


The Black Rose

by NetherDawn



Category: No Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Angst, Child Abuse, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family, Family Drama, Family Issues, Hurt/Comfort, Incest, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Rape, Romance, Sexual Content, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-20
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-02-04 18:50:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 19
Words: 49,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12777282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NetherDawn/pseuds/NetherDawn
Summary: A failed farmer is forced to marry a woman who has already lost her flower if he wishes to receive his parents' inheritance. Bad habits and a worse temperament prevented him from ever loving her for what she was. Soon he will come to realize that the seeds he has planted will come back to sting him like thorns, as the reins of his family are already changing hands.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I'm not writing this story with the intent to turn it into the standard redneck fic with incest and violence waiting in every corner, but for the sake of allowing a deeper insight on the underlying circumstances surrounding the characters that will eventually drive them to such extremities. That said, expect an actual story, not senseless porn. Will eventually turn NSFW though. You've been kindly warned.

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Her name was Jacqueline Blackwood.

—Jackie, the quaint elderly in the village had been the first to call her, the fond pet name that had been previously following her late grandmother for 83 years.

Jackie was a girl at the age of nineteen, less thrilled in her current life that was painted in ashen, more willing to imagine actual colors existed somewhere far away. Every time Jackie's fingers glided over the pages of her lineage she'd remember how she had been born into a family tree of countrymen with deep roots. Farmers, woodcutters, fishermen, hunters. No matter how hard she'd try to single out one of her relatives for a distinctive trait, they all looked one and the same.

Kneeling over a shot bear somewhere up in the mountain, showing off a big catch by the riverbank, posing with one hand latched on the pitchfork or the axe. Muddy boots, patched pants with suspenders, hairy arms up to the shoulders, neglected beards, confident smiles nevertheless. In fact, each one of them seemed to treasure some kind of personal triumph in their moment. They had all liked doing what they were good at, obviously, they took pride in it.

If only she could say the same for her.

A small dust cloud puffed when Jackie shut the old album of black and white photos. This thing hadn't breathed in a good while.

She let it rest next to her, on a linen blanket that had thinned out too much to be called a blanket anymore. Just the touch of the scratchy fabric under her palm was a cause for itchiness. Jackie's chest heaved empty of motivation as she closed her eyes and almost reluctantly lifted her neck. On the count of three she'd open her eyes, wishing to think someone up there may be hearing her inward pleas and magically make her wake up in a different world.

Like every time before, what awaited across her, was the mirror. A foggy oval mirror, chipped all around from the passing of ages, the vintage bronze frame infected by green and smelling of decay. She hated staring at that mirror. Not because it was an ancient relic left behind by generations of grandmothers like it was a necessary evil tradition to be passed on to the newer branches, but because its hopeless outlook fitted perfectly the sullen face it reflected back to her.

Jackie was gloomy, too gloomy for a girl at nineteen. She wore the kind of face it'd take someone but a fleeting glance to ascertain that she'd given up on life and that such brooding could well be contagious. No one could blame her for dwelling in the realms of pessimism though, as Jackie's circumstances were a very delicate matter.

She parted her lips and had them illustrate an 'I hate you' towards the mirror. Her mouth was only good for mimicking words because...

_Jackie could not speak._

She was not deaf or mute. Jackie's ears were actually more keen than most people's and she had been able to talk normally like every other girl. What had crippled her voice was a childhood trauma, not so much a physical one, as a psychosomatic one.

[...]

One day her father, Bobby Joe, didn't return from some village errands. He'd always be back home by 10 p.m. no matter his schedule.

Worried, Jackie's mother sent her out to look for him, and so Jackie did. She set off amidst the heavy downpour leaving no stone unturned despite the challenging night weather, all because she was afraid something bad might have happened to her father.

Her lungs had been depleted calling out for him all around the village and it was drawing close to midnight. No one would bother coming out of their cozy nest to help her or ask what was going on, the villagers were just locked inside their houses, either sleeping or pretending to be sleeping next to a fireplace that was keeping them warm from the cold. Jackie was tired and soaked to the bone after two hours of searching for her father. Her efforts were bearing no fruit. She was going to return home empty-handed and only god knew how her mother would react realizing Bobby Joe had gone missing.

However, as Jackie slipped inside a narrow alley caressing her hand alongside a wall to collect her breath…

She saw him.

Hiding behind a wide dumpster and grunting with a menace, Bobby Joe with his pants down and a fat-chested woman on her knees working on his crotch.

"Father…?" She had muttered, not with shock or disbelief, but naivety and confusion.

Not much drama followed.

Jackie had ended up with her back squirming against the wall as her father's vengeful clutch threatened to snap her tender 10 year old throat.

"Say a word to ma an' I'll rip yer tongue out. Ya listenin' girl?"

Jackie would never forget the vow in her father's eyes or his hand that was big enough to grab all around her neck, easily squeezing her like a sponge. She took the words to heart and never spoke of what she later came to know as her father's cheating on her mother. Of course, the small community still caught wind of the news, as the woman that had been together with Bobby Joe that night spread word how the crazy 'limp-dick' slammed his own daughter against the wall and almost strangled her.

[...]

Sadly enough, this had been all but the end of Jackie's bad luck.

Not only did Jackie never say a word about that night's incident, she never said a word  _again_. Naturally introverted and timid ever since her days as a toddler, Jackie had lost her voice out of immense fear that her father would deliver his promise to her if she ever talked. Since that night, whenever she'd attempt to mutter words on the condition she were alone in her room,  _just to remember how her voice once had been_ , she could still eerily hear her throat's fragile joints scrunching under the pressure of her father's grip.

It was all in her head, yet enough to strip the shy Jackie of her voice.

Bobby Joe was not a knight in white armor, even the rocks were aware of it. He was the kind of man that'd stomp a goat at the knee if the animal was too stubborn to move. He'd not hesitate kicking cattle at the udder out of spite on a day it wouldn't yield enough milk, not giving a damn if the animal screamed, writhed in pain, or even if it actually collapsed. He'd just keep beating it unforgivingly, sometimes until the screams were no more.

Then he'd take the killed animal's meat not to his family's empty plates, but to the butcher for money. Money that would yet again not go to his family's needs, but his empty glass of scotch. Somewhere in the darkest pits of his addicted mind there were whispers talking to him, repeating themselves over and over, louder and louder for every passing hour, not ceasing till they were realized.

_Break a goat's leg, tell the curious fools its leg got caught in some fence when it tried to hop over, take it to the butcher, pour the money inside the glass._

A ruthless self-important man with a misleading lanky build that reminded everyone not to judge a book by its cover. He was a farmer now at the age of 49 with a strength that had already started to abandon him as had the hair on the crown of his head. With a bad temper and an even shorter fuse if anyone risked talking to him, he was especially dangerous when he'd be out on a serious date with alcohol.

The cause of this bottomless spiral of blind chugging was, and had always been, his wife, Rose.

Not the peachiest of marriages. Even back when he was a youngster Bobby Joe had been rather unfulfilling in his affairs.  _'Too cheeky and unromantic'_ , some of them would confide even now,  _'pouring some syrup over the pancakes wouldn't hurt'_ , they'd add. As such, with no woman willing to condemn herself to such a crass partner, Bobby Joe had quickly learnt how to find great indulgence in whoring, where petty things like honey whispers to an ear were not included in the bill.

When he hit thirty years of age however, days of grace period as a boy long gone, Bobby Joe's exasperated old folk decided it was the last year their family name would have to suffer being treated as the village's laughing stock, declaring they were not fools to forever keep catering for a lecher and threatening to disown him of everything that would be his. Either he'd marry a woman and have kids to keep the family name going, or he'd find himself stripped of every dime in his wallet. Without a dime not even the whores would want to see his face. That was an apparent fact that had scared Bobby Joe out of his wits.

There was only one girl in the village that had yet to be matched to someone for marriage. A young girl, only at her 18th year, born into a poor family of peasants with great financial need, whom no one dared to take to church.

'The Black Rose', they called her.

Despite her low status in society Rose had never allowed misery to be part of her life. She was a lively and sassy girl, so lively and sassy that her appetite for 'syrup and pancakes' had earned her the reputation of a slut before she could even fully bloom. Of course, it was also rumored that her family's financial predicament was what had pushed her down that road, while some had surmised that the truth was to be found somewhere in-between the two versions of the story.

Even so, with his back against a wall Bobby Joe grudgingly agreed to marry a girl who, not only was much younger than him —an issue for inviting gossip behind his back— but tarnished as well. Rose was young, yet not a virgin for his taking. He grabbed her by the arm, dragged her all the way to church, knocked her up within a month of treating her little different to a whore.

Nine months later, Jackie was born.

Short brown hair, pale like they'd been bleached, draping like thin curtains over dark brown eyes making her look like a dusky witch chanting curses in her mind.

"Jackie dear!" Her mother called from another room, the kitchen probably, "Dinner is almost ready, please come at the table?" Her voice cheerful and encouraging as always.

Jackie's hips halfheartedly complied, impassive eyes already taught to pay no mind as the bed springs annoyingly squeaked from the rust.

Her shoulders felt heavy as she stood across the mirror. Still about 5'7'', didn't look like she was getting any taller, or the mirror doing her favors despite having just recovered from a bad cold. She saw herself quite a bit scrawny, probably less than 100 pounds. The only feature Jackie found not utterly pathetic about her body was the white nightgown of cotton that wasn't sticking flat on her chest. Her mounds, albeit still at the size of lemons, were paradoxically healthy. Though she secretively wished one day there'd actually be a person telling her how her bosom was indeed growing well instead of having her own self-pitying musings do the work.

That day didn't look like it was going to dawn anytime soon, and considering the nightmarish night that had etched her with a distrusting scar, the day she'd see the church dressed in pure white would probably never come.

Jackie walked away to let the room draw a breath from her suffocating silence, certain that her absence wouldn't make the room feel any emptier or lonelier at all. Her sickly body did not even suffice to make the wooden planks squeak, and the planks would squeak pretty easily. Someday she was sure her half-lidded eye would realize how proud it should be that she were the only member in the family with a cat's silent stride.

_Yeah, as if..._

She entered the kitchen and saw her mother filling a copper bowl with the ladle by the stove.

 _Beef stew...?_ She wondered with a bit of surprise when her petite nose responded to the inviting whiff of cooked vegetables. Carrot was her favorite.

Must be a rare occasion for her mother to be preparing beef stew for supper. It'd usually be something less delectable, like rice soup or gruel. If they were lucky enough, some bread would be accompanying their poor meal.

"Jackie!" Her mother chided, pointing at her feet with the ladle. "Why are you not wearing socks? Do you want to come down with a fever like last time?"

"Nngh.." Jackie's neck drooped and her nose grumbled in stubborn defense.

Wandering barefooted inside the house was a bad habit of hers that was never going to change. Being unable to talk, Jackie could only communicate with growls, grunts, hums, but mostly gestures. That was the only way she could inform someone that she was trying to say something.

The front door's handle suddenly clicked.

Jackie felt unease swelling in her chest as she stared the door. Her mother, Rose, was also guardedly observing who it would be that would pass through their doorstep, her fingertips entertaining the bread knife next to her. The thumping of boots eventually shook the floor and Jackie listened to her heart beat as if it were in her eardrums. They were two lone women inside a small house and the idea of unexpected visitors wasn't really welcome, especially this late. Creeps or thieves were not extinct around the mountain side of the village. They always had to be prepared for the worst.

"Man, it's freezing outside..." A boot wrestled the wind roaring through the gap and sealed the door.

Rose sighed with relief that it wasn't just anyone's voice. She smiled and withdrew her eyes to start slicing the bread.

Jackie's heart pounded again, this time not out of fear. Her lids began to widen almost with anticipation.

"Too warm to put on your socks Mouse?" He smiled with a tease while carrying three hefty logs in his arms.

Yes... There was one person in this family that actually made Jackie's gloomy outlook in this world a bit brighter.

The boy deposited the two logs in an empty corner next to the fireplace, then crouched on his knees to shove the last one inside the dying embers. With a relieved wheeze he palmed his forehead and brushed the few blades of brunette hair away from the moist yet cold skin.

"This firewood will keep us going, for another night at least."

He assured himself with a nod of sharp amber eyes as he sized up the reigniting flames.

One year younger than her, this was the only man left still fighting for this family, Jackie's little brother.

—Jack

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	2. Chapter 2

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She had always found mixed feelings about how she and her brother were born with the same name, it was an issue that'd sometimes cause confusion and aggravation back when they were still kids, getting their names mixed up when their parents would call for one or the other.

The beginning of this tale was that their father, Bobby Joe, hadn't wanted  _kids._ Feeding just one extra mouth had already been taking its toll on his pocket. Jackie herself was enough; one day she'd leave the house, get married, have her own cubs, the family name would go on as Bobby Joe's parents had wished.

Jack was a different story though. An accident, to put it bluntly. He happened when Bobby Joe didn't pull out fast enough on a night he was drunk.

Either way, Jack still happened, so people naturally wondered why Bobby Joe didn't take this chance to name his son after his father, Buck. One would think it'd be the least Bobby Joe could do to honor the man who had yielded him all of his wealth. Bobby Joe however saw the reason to be rather simple. Start shouting for a kid named 'Buck' around the guys in the bar and everyone would break down laughing. It'd sound like Bobby Joe was summoning his dead father from the grave for a last loan. The irony would be overwhelmingly comical.

Of course there were also Rose's folk, but Bobby Joe was too snooty to name his kid after lowly peons, so this alternative was out of the question.

Even to this day no one was still sure whether his idea to name Jack had been after his big sister, Jackie, because Bobby Joe simply lacked the imagination to come up with a name that was not half-baked, or because his first reaction when Rose announced him of her second pregnancy was  _"Jack fucking shit"_

In any case... _Jack_  it was.

Jackie silently watched her brother poking the firewood with an iron bar, he had to make sure the logs were facing the charcoals with their most dry skin if they were going to pick up the flames. He'd keep stirring them for quite a while sometimes, not unbolting his eyes from the logs till they were finally burning without his assistance.

She thought it'd be really awkward if one day Jack suddenly turned and caught her just standing there, staring at him, like a stalking ghost.

But, he'd never really do. So Jackie allowed herself to pilfer some time, observing Jack, like the ghost she was.

This curiosity wrapped around the fact that they'd not see each other a lot during the day. Jackie would usually be inside the house doing chores to help her mom, while Jack would be out in the farm, working, or the village, to give and take. In his free time he'd even go away for hours deep into the forest, chopping wood, hunting, even foraging for mushrooms or other things he could have in mind.

As far as Jackie was concerned though, the real reason they weren't seeing each other that much was a bit different.

.

.

Once her brother would finish with work one would assume he'd at least have a few spare hours to spend with his family. Truth was, after finishing his own work Jack would be busy taking care of his father's share of work as well.

Her brother shouldered a punctual sense of responsibility, waking up before dawn to tend to the animals and the fields first thing in the morning, while their slacker father rarely crawled out of bed sooner than 9 a.m. Even then Bobby Joe would just take his time nibbling breakfast, only dropping by the farm around 10 a.m. to oversee how Jack was handling things, acting more like a foreman in his own farm than an actual farmer bleeding his sweat on its soil.

As if that weren't enough Bobby Joe had a nasty tendency to stand over Jack like the top dog whenever his son was inside the barn. Whether Jack would be spreading fodder over the troughs for the animals to eat, milking the cow, or shoveling the manure... Bobby Joe would always be there to find a flaw in his doings, sniping at him on every step.

It was not a stretch to say Bobby Joe would just go there to mess with Jack, waiting for the moment he'd spit his favorite line at his son.

 _"Yer no better than the shit yer cleanin",_ he'd look down on him from a high chin, when in reality something like a  _"Not too shabby..."_ would be playing on the back of his mind, but was too cheap to give the boy credit nevertheless.

Now, more than a decade of being used to his father's taunts and insults, Jack not only kept his cool, but had learnt to pretend that Bobby Joe wasn't even there altogether. All he thought he was hearing were distant cries of a bitter old man who had failed in life.

Of course Bobby Joe wasn't oblivious as to where this cold shoulder was coming from. Jack's silent treatment was indeed making him feel like the liability he was in this farm's grounds. Boiling with spite, he'd just slam the barn's door behind him to take a long ramble around the farm's enclosures, telling himself he was doing so because he had to make sure all the fences were up and holding. The fences were marking his territory after all, should anyone get funny ideas like climbing over his fences they'd be quickly introduced to Bobby Joe's not funny double barrel shotgun.

More than often he'd pick up some wheat straw to chew on along the way, until the coming winter scenery made him too nervous to loaf around anymore. Around noon he'd finally leave the farm with no particular destination, he just had to escape from this family, to burn the sour mood somehow, be it with euchre where he'd go for risky bets he'd rarely win, rounds of whiskey, and last but not least... with women, fornicating.

It was no secret that the boy would get under his skin without trying, Bobby Joe saw in Jack what his late parents hadn't been able to see in him; Eyes hardened by responsibility. The fact his son possessed tenacity and skill where he had given up and failed didn't make Bobby Joe want to reflect on his own shortcomings, it simply pissed him off.

Because those eyes were not just determined. They were golden, like  _hers_. In the end envy and loathing was what Bobby Joe felt towards his son, who had been cursed to bear that woman's pricey eyes.

That would be how Bobby Joe's day would go down, hatefully and enviously, resorting to women, alcohol and bluff games to forget himself. Rinse and repeat.

.

.

"Mouse!" An arm was telling her to get there, "Come look at this!"

Her brother's sudden call shot awareness back in her eyes. She had no reason to refuse, quite the opposite, actually.

She crouched like Jack had by the fire, thinking her night dress was cascading a bit too timidly over closed legs that were rubbing nervously against one another. Unlike with her mom, Jackie would get self-conscious at Jack's invitations. She couldn't talk, so Jack would usually have to do all the talking for her. Inside her chest's locket Jackie actually treasured every second Jack spent with her, a kind and understanding person through and through.

However, it was this kindness that also hurt Jackie, who saw herself unworthy of being talked to. There'd be no fruitful payoff for anyone who'd talk to her, only her silence. Jack was already aware of that yet he was not putting barriers between them. How Jackie felt about this was a joy she'd keep only to herself.

"See the wood?" He asked and his finger pointed at the fire.

Cautiously resting hands on her kneecaps Jackie leaned a bit closer to examine what he was showing her.

 _The log was foaming?_  Bubbles were puffing out from the tender parts like the wood's bare skin was sweating.  _Were those sizzling sounds it was making?_  Jackie thought the wood was angry and it was going to explode in their faces because they were burning it.

"That log soaked up yesterday's rain, seems. Now heat's squeezing out the water."

Jackie briefly fluttered her focusing lids, she got the rough idea. Though she couldn't fathom how that truly worked. For instance, the fire was forcing out the absorbed water, but why was it hissing,  _screaming like_. What if the log had sensed it was going to be burned, so it decided to store water inside it last night? To Jackie it seemed like the log was making a desperate effort to protect itself from the fire by cloaking its body in water.

Musings like that would be an unfortunate combination of Jackie's obvious lack in outdoor experience, as well as never having received proper education. As a result her head was trying to fill in the black pits of her inadequate knowledge with romantic fabrications. She knew that of course, but Jackie simply liked to pretend she didn't know, her imagination was her lone inner shelter and she didn't want to lose that. She'd rather keep herself mystified about little things like that and be absorbed in them. Imagining the unknown was what helped her pull through the boring days.

"Mm.." Jack hummed like having a bit of trouble reminiscing, chin fixed towards ceiling, "This wood is ringing me a bell you know..." His eye rolled to its corner to meet Jackie, a playful smirk on him.

_Honestly, she found the foaming wood a bit sad and eye-averting, what suchlike thing could her brother have seen?_

_She was filled with wonder waiting for Jack's answer._

"There's this person I know sleeping on the top bed. A week ago she was snoring so hard I had to climb the bunk to give her a nudge. But she had that wide grin in her sleep, drooling like a river at the mouth that scared me so much I just stepped down, not making a sound."

Her pupils were shrinking, heart racing, face glowing red.

"Her name's Jackie..."

_Her eyes lost it._

"Mnnn~h!"

"JACK!" Rose tried to sound an objection to her daughter's defense, but the reflex of amusement tickled her tone.

"Hahahaha! H-Hey—!" He tried to ward himself from his sister's thrashing fists, but they were harmless, embarrassed mostly.

Jackie was lowly growling, thirsting to pay him in kind, yet too ashamed to show her face. In her fluster however she also found herself smiling, because those were emotions that would not stir inside her every day. Despite her handicap that required delicate treatment, Jack would not go easy on her. He'd tease her and laugh at her discontentment. He treated her like she was normal, like she was an equal, and that was the reason Jackie was being subconsciously drawn closer to him.

Having cooled down and crouching still as she was, Jackie's eyes slowly slipped from Jack's laughing smile and settled on the visible scar decorating the right side of his forehead, going down through his dark brow and subtly parting it if one looked closely. Even after all those years this scar still hadn't faded, nor it seemed it would ever mend.

He saw what she was looking at, the sadness that was hard to conceal even in those gloomy eyes.

Because that night... Bobby Joe would have really strangled her in his drunken frenzy. What got between Jackie's neck and his arm, was a nine year old boy, who had run away from home to look for his sister.

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	3. Chapter 3

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Rose thought that an odd quiet had consumed the fireplace. Jack had pulled his sister's leg only a moment ago but now both her children were even more silent than before. The mischievous laughs were gone, the frustrated growls quelled. All Rose could hear behind her back were the invigorated flames licking the wood and the dry crusts popping in return.

She was still making preparations for dinner when the need to cast her lid at what was happening behind her back began to swell. Faint signals they may be, but at the same time, unnerving.. Inexplicable.. Call it a mother's hunch.

It's not that she lacked trust in her children, but at that given moment she couldn't shake away the feeling this resilient ice had to crack.

"..."

Whenever Rose's concern roofed over her two buds, any wary idea she could've been hiding would slowly melt away from her eyes, for a bittersweet smile to make its way on her lips. Not only they were not giving off anything suspicious, but the only suspicious here was Rose herself, for daring to be doubtful.

Jackie's eyes were laying downcast in guilt, while Jack simply consoled her from above with the ghost of a smile.

_"It's alright, it wasn't your fault.."_

That's what he was telling her, using her own words of silence, unspoken words the melancholic sheen in Jackie's eyes could read and understand better than anything else.

Rose banished the demons possessing her furtive peek, but the vigil with which she refined her focus while forcing the knife down the hard bread spoke of no retirement.

One day, the pain her children suffered at Bobby Joe's hands...  _She'd return it tenfold._

"Jack hon, I'm almost done here, go take a shower before dinner gets cold."

"Mom come on, really?" A wronged child's protest gripped his face, "It's like 40 degrees outside, water's gonna turn me into a popsicle."

"Ah, no need to worry, I've already boiled you a bucket of water. Will that be enough?"

Within her answer one word was easily singled out, one that was enough to trounce the boy's rebellion,  _"Whoa.. Warm bath..!"_

He tied the soaked boots together, hung them on the coat rack by the fireplace to dry —a repeated crime which Rose questioned herself why she still hadn't bitten her son's head off for— then Jack prepared himself for an all out offensive towards the shower.

"Oh Jack, I almost forgot."

Rose paused to wipe the bread powder off her black waist apron before stretching it down to remove the creases. Either that thing was becoming tighter every year or her hips were just too greedy for their own good.

Jack's stomach was feeling rather unwell with this long wait, too many fastidious details in the manner his mom was fixing an apron.

"Totally forgot you were going to a fashion show tonight..."

"Hmph." Rose flashed a sidelong leer.

 _A cheap remark coming from a boy where the word 'taste' was nowhere to be found in his book._  Rose had quickly thought of a means to pass judgement on him, no way she was going to let her taste be told by an amateur.

The flip-flops she was wearing were not really suited for the task, but that would not pose an issue to Rose, who masterfully maintained her balance while pulling a swift yet elegant whirl of her waist. The hip-long ponytail whipped with a commanding twist, her thick mane of black rippling as if it were a living wave on the tide. Golden eyes parted ever secretly to spare a glance of contempt, ready to behold the awe-stricken son dropping his jaw for not knowing what it meant to  _'not bite off more than you can chew'._

She may be a woman counting 37 years, but even after spending half her life married to the likes of Bobby Joe, withering away in household confinement, she had all but accepted the role of some domesticated cat. This woman had yet to lose her fangs, as somewhere deep inside her, she still was, and would always be, 'The Black Rose'.

_Her child was indeed goggling._

From Rose's toes that were bent on their tips for the heels to come up into a flexible arch, the smooth calves that were drawn equally tight even though she'd undeniably placed most of her weight on one leg, her hands that were hooked with an imposing angle on her slim waist, the steep cleavage that was not losing its identity even under a sweaty gray tank top, as well as the black bra straps that had slightly escaped from underneath her top. Last but not least, her majestic ponytail, accomplished free of rubber bands or any fancy extras. She'd just slick it all back, wrap it into a knot and  _voila!_

A truly mesmerizing sight. What would intrigue her child's gaze in particular, were her breasts. If Jackie's was a pair of lemons, her mom's were undoubtedly two ripe melons.

Jackie's eyes were in sparkling stupor, fists already trembling with reverence on her chest. Her mom might be a bit wacky,  _all things she had gone through considered_ , but she was a natural beauty. Just the prospect that her mom's genes could one day start showing on her own body was making her smile with hardly contained elation.

"..."

Rose was smiling, a bit confused actually.

Of course seeing her daughter look up to her as a role model of a woman was making her happy and all, but...

_Where was the impudent one?_

_The one that was supposed to have been smitten by her bewitching aura, jaw on the floor and all?_

"Damn this stew is good!" He loudly announced before giving the ladle another slurp.

"HUAH—!?" Rose flinched into a quite more ungraceful posture, one that resembled an amateur housewife catching sight of a speeding rat.

"You've really outdone yourself this time mom!"

Jack's thumb raised to bestow her his seal of approval, along with a wry wink.

"You little FUCK!" She grabbed him by the collar of his green jacket, "You think that's smart!?"

His mom wasn't actually that much of an onion as she let out to be. Just peel the pretty outer layer and what you'd find on the inside was a woman with a sailor's mouth. That was Rose in all her splendor, a teenage girl whom even age refused to drag down because she had never graduated from adolescence.

And to Rose... Jack was a dick unlike all the dicks she could remember having taken. Those aesthetics she had just flaunted were the epitome of artistic seduction, no guy had ever resisted her wild charm. Even if Jack was her son there's no way he'd just brush it off like it was nothing, any sort of reaction would be okay, good or bad. Something had to be wrong with him. Sure, he was such a fucking tease that sometimes Rose just couldn't take it, but that aside... He was hard-working, he cared for his family, his heart wasn't made out of stone; Rose was sure he had a soft spot, well...  _for his sister anyway..._

_"Wait... Don't tell me he..."_

Then it occurred to her, like a gleam inside oblivion. As far as Rose's textbook rules regarding charm went... — _there was an exception that actually existed_ —... a case in which a guy could really be immune to any woman's charm no matter how tempting the bait was.

And that would be... If he was already head over heels...  _for another woman._

 _"Oh shit!"_ Now she was really losing it,  _"Which one is it!? The woodcutter's daughter!? The baker girl!?"_

As a matter of fact Rose had seen the baker girl dropping by the farm every now and then to give Jack some freshly baked bread. Coming all the way up to the mountain just out of her good heart was suspicious in itself. But, then again... Jack didn't really seem to act all fluttery around her, their interactions would be typical chit-chat.  _Then who..?_

"Mom, the stew is a little bitter. That's cause you've put mountain herbs in it, right?"

He made sure to cover his mouth so the whisper didn't roam around the room.

Rose blinked, that had caught her completely off guard.

"Sis will be as good as new once she gets a bowl of this."

"Jack.." Her eyes softened, as if her armor had been shattered.

Rose hadn't seen this coming. She had meant to keep this tiny detail a secret, because she knew her fragile daughter would just feel all the more at fault for having her mother go out of her way and into the mountain for herbs.

The cat was out of the bag, but if it was Jack, her secret was safe.

_Time and time again, she'd come to ask herself... When did this boy grow up so fast? When did he become such a dependable person? Around the time he ran away from home to look for Jackie, 9 years ago? Or was it even before that, when..._

"So?" Jack was talking normally again, anymore whispering and Jackie would stretch her ear for sure, "What's the deal?"

"...Oh" She finally let go of his jacket, "It's the door again.. Think you can fix it?"

"Aw man.. Bolt's stuck again? I wondered why the door wasn't locked when I came in."

"Yeah, sorry... You know how Bobby always takes the only key we have with him." Rose continued in thought as Jack walked away,  _"Asshole's afraid we're gonna lock him outside again."_

_Believe it or not, this door had seen better days._

Jack reckoned after checking the rotting corners of the frame.

As for the bolt, the house's one and only safety pin... It kept jamming, like every two days, due to rust. Jack would have to force it up and down a couple of times before it'd yield half an inch. The crux of the matter here though was a bit more complicated, fixing the door had started to feel more like trying to budge some dungeon's crossbar. That's how difficult it was getting to procure themselves a safe sleep. What's more, the latch plate was getting loose, the screws had eaten into the wood. There was only so much beating one door could take from Bobby Joe's drunk midnight kicks.

Also, if Jack were to include the rattling hinges in the equation... He'd just find himself brushing a kick over the floor.

_This door was no good._

_He'd have to pay the carpenter a visit within the month, unless they were fine with spending the winter without a door._

_Could they really afford it though? Bobby Joe would probably bring the house down thrashing at everything breakable if they were to tell him to shove his hand deep in his pocket._

_Perhaps it was a better idea for Jack to try and handle the matter himself. After all, he did have a knack for trying out new things... Except fishing. He was really bad at fishing..._

"—!"

Jack's mind had been trying to pull through a mire for a solution, heavily pondering on his chin while heading back for the shower, so he barely got to notice Rose who kicked back her leg against the table, much like a toll bar.

"Um, I fixed it?" He mentioned, kind of puzzled as Rose just continued scrubbing the sink with no regard for him.

It looked like she was sulking at something.

"You're still upset about that? Alright, I'm sorry..." But her leg was still barring his way to that warm bucket, "Mom come on.."

She wasn't letting him off the hook, Rose was a proud woman and demanded for an apology not in words, but in kind. She tapped a finger at her cheek as indication to the amends that had to be made.

Jack heaved in frustration, he wasn't a 10 year old anymore. To make matters worse, Rose was actually a bit taller than him, he had to stand on his toes to reach up her cheek. It couldn't get more embarrassing than that.

Rose however was entertaining her own unbeknownst plans. She had to make sure Jack hadn't been lured into some female spider's web. If he happened to be seeing a girl then that could well mean marriage, and in turn marriage could mean another home may likely snatch her son away. With a husband as reliable as the door she and Jackie would be left open for the vultures out in the mountain's wilderness.

_That was not happening, not on her watch._

"M..mph—!?"

Jack's smooch of atonement had been lured in by a feint.

At the last second Rose turned and her son's lips smacked on hers.

Dozens of blood vessels cracked inside the white of his iced stare.

"ARE YOU SCREWED IN THE HEAD YOU CRAZY HAG!"

The expression on Rose shot with wicked delight, now  _that_  was an acceptable reaction, her son's face flushing the deepest of reds.

Tooth and nail Jack was trying to squirm his way out of her trap, but Rose's arms were already a tight knot around his back. Soon he could feel her rack squeezing against his chest,  _damn were those two big succulent jugs_. She wasn't pulling back her punches.

"It's an eye for an eye in this family Jack. Consider this your reward for fixing the door."

"Don't you mean my  _punishment_!?"

Undaunted as ever she closed in on him from the side of his face, her leering amber sniffing out his racing heartbeat, most pleased.

"It's good to know you're still a virgin though, for a moment I was worried you might—"

"GO TO HELL!"

Without a second thought he grabbed on what he thought to be a dishrag's end by the sink and swiftly yanked it to whip the succubus of a mother in the face.

"...A~Ah.." What Jack was holding in his hand was not a dishrag.

Rose blushed, her golden eyes shying away to treasure a charmed shimmer. Even by her standards, that kind of straight-forward proposal was on a whole level of new to her.

Jack flew a frantic glimpse towards his sister, this was the definition of defilement for Jackie's eyes.

His sister was weak at the knees, she felt she was going to die from the sheer embarrassment, yet couldn't resist not watching from within the gap of her fingers.

_..That's what grown-ups wear..?_

The dirty image of a black thong decorated by a floral lace trim would burn inside her cornea for the rest of her days. By mistake her brother had untied their mom's apron _._

Rose was lightly stroking her wrist behind her back where Jack couldn't see, when finally her flip-flop coyly slid behind the other.

"..If you want to learn that much, I wouldn't mind.."

"..Huh?" Jack was dumbstruck, what the hell was the crazy woman on about?

She softly clinched her cleavage, the twin predators that had ambushed Jack before from underneath her tank top were now actually molding into lustful shapes of volume, just to peek out a bit.  _Perhaps the time had come to make formal introductions._

"..It would actually make me really happy, to be your firs—..."

Rose didn't get to finish as Jack wore her the apron on the head like he was emptying a trash bag.

"Mouse, I'll be back in ten, make sure fire doesn't go out 'kay?"

Completely ignored his mother, but Rose smirked knowingly as she took the decoration off her head.

"Well, seeing how you're going to cool off, I guess hot water won't be necessary after all."

Jack just answered with the middle finger as he walked away with his back turned at her.

Rose was confident as she crossed arms under her chest, not touched by a granule of shame that she was standing there with her underwear offered in plain sight.

_He couldn't fool anyone. That renegade boy carrying his jacket on his shoulder, was her own mirror._

Rose sucked her lower lip, dainty tongue savoring the leftovers of the taste.

_"He's right.. The stew did turn out a little bitter."_

.

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	4. Chapter 4

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Two minutes had passed since Jack left.

To be more precise, two entire minutes since Jackie had been thrown into a staredown contest with the fire poker, and neither of them was doing anything less of staying still.

Not for a second did Jackie consider herself to be sitting out the task though, she was on the lookout closely observing what she believed to be a cause for caution. She could swear the flaked handle had weaved itself around the shaft like a grass snake's coiled tail, every now and then it even appeared to be making wavy movements, slithering left and right, like trying to hypnotize her; telling her that if she wanted to make sure whether it was moving or not, she'd have to pick it up to find out.

A crafty trick indeed, but Jackie would not fall for it. She made a promise to not allow herself bat even her eyelid, it was all a figment of her imagination.

Jackie was not really a scaredy cat, but add in her zero knowledge about how heat waves make the air expand, which in turn creates an effect that plays tricks to the eye.. and there were days she'd wake up with a phobia for that fire poker that was almost born out of horror fiction.

[...]

It happened long ago, on a cold January afternoon, when her father was trying to feed the logs to the fire, much like Jack had been doing back there. Life however can be quite ironic sometimes, as Bobby Joe got fed up with the fireplace instead. Consultation from his patience had lasted for a good minute before he started claiming the wood was all too wet and that he wasn't going to waste all day on his knees, bringing up his cramps, chronic lumbago pain and such.

So he just abandoned the logs to their fate. Whether they'd decide to burn or not, he could not give a damn.

Miraculously enough, unlike Bobby Joe, god's merciful gaze had not abandoned their family. Despite being left on its own, the fire actually began to grow more healthily than when Bobby Joe was meddling with it.

Half an hour had passed, all while Bobby Joe had been watching the revived fireplace from his rocking chair with a sour face, the flames reflected back inside his still glare dancing like they were mocking him. Soon the fumes the farmer was giving off were greater than the ones going up the chimney. That was about the first time he wondered if god was actually sending him a message about his incompetence,  _not being good enough to even kindle a proper fire._

All sorts of self-inflicting thoughts ran through his mind that afternoon while petulantly bouncing his foot from that rickety chair, the noise the chair's joints were making while rocking himself back and forth drilling those dark thoughts through his eardrums all the more easily.

But, like always, whenever he was feeling the space around him distorting inwardly, as if trying to consume him, Bobby Joe needed something to make him forget everything.  _What better way to blow off some steam than with a good laugh_ , he reminded himself, and a tingling grin almost peeled down to his gums once he realized he had tossed the poker a bit close to the fire.

"..'ey, mute girl."

He lazily let his neck fall back to see Jackie twitch in an uptight manner. She had been diligently sweeping the floor behind him, but for all Bobby Joe knew his twelve year old klutz daughter was just learning how to swing a broom, useless as ever in his eyes. As a caring father however, he could at least put her dolt efforts to good use.

"Dam' floor ain't goin' nowhere, but bet'cha fire will. Do somethin' 'bout it, daddy's bones are gettin' a lil' cold over 'ere. "

He explained and rolled his neck in circular movements a couple of times to make it crackle as proof. He knew his nape wasn't sore from the cold of course, but rather from sitting around doing close to nothing all day.

Jackie on the other hand didn't need another word to comply, she could already feel the coarse skin of his palm choking her breath if she dared shake her head in disobedience. The broom fell from her hands on the spot when Bobby Joe suggestively jutted his chin at the poker.

"ANNGH—!"

Jackie stifled the cry.

She got to listen to her palms frizzle like bacon before the hot tool dropped from her hands with a loud clang.

Jackie's mom who happened to be close by stormed inside the room when her husband bust his gut out of the blue, his hacking laughs were possibly being heard all the way down to the village. Rose knew her daughter would never go messing with the fireplace on her own whim, she had never liked fires too much. The mother didn't need a rundown to get the picture.

When she questioned Bobby Joe what the hell was wrong with him he wiped the tear from his eye and said he was merely trying to help get his daughter's voice back. He was sure it'd work.

Rose's arm flew on its own to slap him across the face, already knowing that not even a thousand slaps would be enough to knock a tiny bit of sense into this degenerate animal.

[...]

"You don't have to do it baby, you know Jack won't get angry at you."

She wanted to comfort her daughter's obvious struggle while going around the table placing the servings, making sure there'd be no more than three bowls tonight as well.

Jackie jerked her head as if she was shaking off her convenient excuse.

At her mother's plea what happened that day never reached Jack's ears. They told him Jackie burned her hands when she accidentally tripped into the stove. If they had told him the truth he'd surely go after his father, who would very likely answer to him by scarring the other side of his face. Fortunately this ordeal had left no burn scars on Jackie's hands either.

Her fingers finally began to slowly reach out. Jackie had all but gotten over her phobia for that burning poker, if anything was leading her arm it was the self-assuring thought that her brother would never have her do something as careless as to bring harm to her. The handle hadn't been left that close to the fire to begin with, it would be fine.

"..."

It was not burning.

_"—!"_

_But it was heavy._

She wrung with a disbelieving glare, the corner of her mouth stretching up when the poker began to tilt off balance from her hand.  _This was not happening..._  Starting from tomorrow she'd have to seriously think about putting some muscle on her bones.

Secretly keeping an eye on her Rose swallowed a chortle when her daughter's posture began to resemble a fencing match with the fire. Well, at least she had come out of her shell to confront her arch nemesis, those gritting brown eyes would soon bend that insubordinate tool's will.

"You still sitting there? Come on, let's eat!"

Jackie didn't even get to blink when she felt losing the weight under her feet and the poker slipping off her hand like a tornado had drifted her along in its path. Her brother could easily fly her like a kite when food was involved, proven by the fact it hadn't even taken him half the time he said he'd need for a bath.

He was already inside the light blue pajamas, feet too ahead of his mind to even think about buttoning the last top button. But, Jackie found the offense to be as minor as her not wearing socks, that made them even..  _probably not..._

That aside, what had soon captured her pupils was something else.

_A riddle._

Inside their joined hands an unyielding and strong grip existed, one Jackie couldn't hope to ever match. She wondered how her brother could be in such high spirits even at the end of the day, when she felt she was going to collapse as soon as getting off the bed. Either he possessed some kind of super powers, or...

..Jack was probably just really famished from work, especially if the rabid excitement on him was anything to go by. She couldn't blame him, that stew smelled so nice even her own picky stomach had decided to make a rumbling request.

Despite that delicious meal waiting for her Jackie would always take her time carefully climbing her gown over the seat, looking out for her manners on the dinner table before anything else, while Jack would take his time examining Rose with a distrustful eye as he'd cautiously pull his chair back.

His mom was sitting still, smiling free of worries, eyes peacefully closed, like a radiant light of serenity had showered her from the heavens. Too quiet, too tame,  _too suspicious_. Jack made sure to guard the thought inside an impregnable vault. Rose was just too much of a holy Mary tonight, but... _first things first._

He could hardly hold back his drooling mouth as he towered over that bowl's sweet aroma, a good hot beef stew was in there, and for its bad luck, there was a black hole in Jack's stomach.

"Ah-uh.." Rose wagged her finger, "What do we always say before dinner Jack?"

Something appeared to be amiss as he studied his mother's climbed brow.

"Oh, right.. Sorry." He offered one arm to each woman of the family, Jack was so hungry he had almost skipped a really important part of dinner.

Even though their prayer was missing a fourth person to come full circle, everyone sitting on this table knew well how the act of prayer carried a meaning that ran far deeper than just some picture of looking whole. Being able to hold hands with one another meant treasuring bonds of unity and trust, and those kind of bonds they had come to learn how it was not impossible to achieve with only three members just as well.

In fact, it might have been for the better this way.

"Lord, thank you for the food before us, the family beside us, and the love between us. Amen."

A short prayer, but one including all that meant important to their family.

"Let's dig in!" After what felt to be an eternity he finally gave the go, the mad rings in his eyes already homing in on a juicy target.

But Jack's spoon was stopped in its tracks when a clang scattered on the floor.

"Oh, silly me, I dropped my spoon.." Rose shrugged her shoulders in regret, "Jack would you mind? I think it bounced your way."

For a prolonged moment charity hesitated in his eye,  _maybe something having to do with Jack's inner projection telling him to dodge the charity like his mental health depended on it_. For the record, Jack believed his inner projection to be really wise.

"...Sure..." To bite the bullet is what makes a man,  _said no wise man ever._

Jack wanted to punch himself in the face as he ducked under the table.

_He went looking for a spoon that was supposed to be close to him..._

_But apparently... The spoon had never left Rose's side._

_..Rose, who was sitting on the sacred dinner table.._

_..Still apron-free.._

That punch in the face,  _it had a nice appeal to it._

Rose crossed one leg over the other, her lip curling as she watched the tendons on Jack's knuckle tighten atop the table. She was both amused and curious to know what sort of dirty thoughts his head could be brewing down there.  _He'd probably be red all over his face, just like back there_ , she entertained the likelihood on a chuckling chin. Rose wasn't going to refuse it, tonight she was feeling a little bit more playful than usual.

"Alright, alright. I get it." He sprang back on his feet, already well-fed, not with food, but with his mother's shameless antics. He bailed dinner and marched for a close cabinet instead. "It was a bad flu, Jackie couldn't have been the only one to get sick."

Popping question marks uncurled her lip and Rose's glance began traipsing left and right as if trying to follow.

"But relax mom, I've got just the right medicine for you."

Arms fastened with caution under her chest when she got a weird chill for some reason.

"Jack, what are you talking about? I'm not sick."

"You have no idea how sick you are, but don't worry, everything will be fine in a moment."

_Jack speaking in riddles had never boded well for anyone._

The cabinet drawer discreetly slid shut. Rose knitted her brows upon a faint clipping sound from her rear, curiosity gradually mutating to something more fearsome as she whipped over her shoulder.

Jack was holding her ponytail in one hand, softly brushing it with his palm all the way down the imposing length, feeling the sleekness of the rich black strands pouring through his tired fingers.

"I think I'm gonna make me a scarf out of that, what do you say?"

She shrank when Jack finally bared a canine grin and showed her the clipper he'd use to shear the wool off the sheep.

"NOOOOOOOO~!" The floodgates in her eyes burst too easily.

She flipped from her seat in panic and tumbled on the floor, legs flailing helplessly when Jack grabbed her by the reins.

There was only a single downside to Bobby Joe's long absence; keeping that woman on a leash. It was time for Jack to administer Rose a tiny dose of domestic violence in his father's stead, the only known vaccine that had any hopes of working on her.

"It'll grow back in 10 years, no need to stress over it!"

"Touch a single hair and I'll cook your liver for dinner tomorrow! Got that!?"

"Nah, I think you'll be too busy trying to figure what to do with the bun I'll leave on your head."

Rose gasped and stilled by a blizzard when Jack gave a dominant yank on her ponytail.

Getting raped by Bobby Joe like she was an animal she could tolerate, but having her ponytail get sacrificed in such a horrific manner? On top of that, to actually leave her with a bun like she was wearing a meatball up there? Only a real dick would do something like that to a woman...

...But, thinking about the dick her son was... Rose had cleverly discovered a way out of this torture.

She prepared an innocent face and shied over her back, making sure to look her wild cowboy in the eye, "Are you sure that's how you want to do it?"

_Jack was getting a deja vu, a real recent one too._

"Taking me like that for your first time is playing a bit too aggressive, but it's okay I guess.."

The time had come for Rose to proceed to step two; Shake her ass against Jack's manhood and check for a possible pulse.

_Amazing, his mother possessed that unique talent to draw out the most dead of expressions he had inside him._

"Forget the scarf, I'm gonna make a rope."

Well that was new. An excited chill ran down her spine.

"Jack! I didn't know you were into this kind of—"

"I'll tie you up, throw you in the closet, then I'll finally be able to sleep tight."

_"Bummer.." She pouted, displeased._

Even inside this pandemonium Jackie had been able to enjoy her dinner, crazy things like that were not all that abnormal during their night gathering, her mother and brother were just addicted to breaking each other's balls for sport. It was times like this Jackie could close her eyes and truly enjoy her meal, like a lady in a tea party, deep inside her comfort zone.

***BUMP-BUMP***

A comfort zone short-lived. She almost bit her spoon when several blows thundered on their door.

Not losing a second Rose quickly rolled away to slide inside her apron, who knew what kind of visit it would be this time.

"You're the only boy here Jack, do what girls can't do." She made her point and grabbed hold of her daughter from behind, taking a few steps deeper inside the room as precaution.

"Tch." Jack cocked his forearm, whoever it was they couldn't have picked a more perfect timing to get their teeth kicked in.

_...On second thought, maybe he should just tell the creep a horny woman was waiting inside, that'd be a load off his back for sure._

He punched the bolt and the door began to creak open by itself.

Jack couldn't see well in the dark. All he could make out was the tattered beanie the man was wearing, a filthy looking brown bush sick with white patches here and there.. and the cold bending the poor hunchback who had hands shoved inside his underarms. He was so dirty, like he had literally tripped into a ditch of dirt.

 _A beggar_ , Jack realized and hostile intentions were washed away from his eyes.

"Old timer, you lost?"

"..." He didn't speak, only shook from the howling winds.

"Jack, who is it?" Rose stretched out her neck when the situation didn't escalate.

He didn't answer to his mother, the real question here was what to do about this poor guy. He looked a mess.

"I'm afraid we don't have much to spare old man, all we can give you is a piece of bread."

"...Bread?" The man finally muttered, his breath a moist cloud that quickly dispersed.

Jack was robbed of words when the man returned his kindness with an amused snort, but more importantly...  _his voice..._

"That be my house, boy."

He finally saw the man's eyes rise from the shadows, wolf-like brown eyes, their glint ready to devour all that stood in his way.

The night itself, had appeared on their doorstep.

.

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	5. Chapter 5

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.

"B~uuuuuurp..! Dam'... Can't argue with that!"

One could swear Bobby Joe had a broken clapper instead of a mouth. After about eight to ten spoonfuls his rumbling stomach would begin to bloat, this would eventually make him clench his jaw and lift his brows up forcing a whole list of wrinkles on his forehead as contained pressure in his throat was gradually building up.

Once reaching critical mass he'd suddenly draw his neck back to uncork a sneer-like belch that'd release a mix of foul gases that was making Jackie's horrified eyes want to vomit. Beef stew was unarguably the only redeemable odor being digested in there, but it was still vastly outnumbered by the likes of beer, shots, whiskey, cigarettes, and also something that was smelling no better to a carcass.

_Wait... Did that mean he was actually eating the cigarettes too?_

For her bad luck Jackie adhered to quite a few inflexible conditions when it came to eating etiquette, so once something glaring rubbed her the wrong way she wouldn't be able to shake it off her mind no matter what. She'd unavoidably lose control over an unnecessary curiosity that wanted her to learn the details of what she didn't like, in a way turning an already ugly situation into a compulsive quiz of knowledge she didn't want to partake.

She didn't really mind her brother who'd usually be rushing to wolf down his meal like someone was after him, he was bound to starve after all that work and wanted to go to bed as fast as possible— or even her mother who'd often lash out her tongue at him during dinner for not paying enough attention to her. It was just...

— _Jackie's forearm was desperately trying to shield her nose_ —

Even though she had picked the chair that was the farthest away from him... Her father's breath smelled just like a real overflowing cesspool.

_She had to say it. Even though it was only in her mind, she had to say it. "Cesspool."_

Even so, Jackie had a hard time accepting she was the only one so vehemently bothered by her father's vulgar manners. Those two who could talk,  _didn't_ , and she who wanted to talk,  _couldn't_. She really needed to know if she was the only one who was being paranoid about this. The other two were even sitting on chairs adjacent to Bobby Joe, sitting on those sides was clearly closer to him and the stink from his belches was surely hitting them harder. How in the world were they keeping their cool?

Discreetly prioritizing her eye to the left she was first curious to observe Jack's take on the matter. It was a very close matchup, but her brother was running on a fuse that was a hair shorter than her mom's.

He was just leaning on his elbow, slowly and lazily stirring the spoon in his stew for no real reason. He had a really distant look to him, only sneaking upward glances towards the clock to fasten a scowl at how slow the hands were moving. He was probably just waiting for the opportunity to excuse himself from the table once his father was done eating.

As per old traditions no one was allowed to leave from the table until the head said they could. If he got up before Bobby was done eating it would be seen as disrespect towards the head and then Bobby would have to take actions to remind them who was the head of the house. Jackie was aware her brother had already experienced an actual enforcement of that tradition. All she could say was that it involved a chair to the face.

To her right, her mom looked even less thrilled about this. She wondered what could be going through her mind.

_"...So much for three servings..."_

Rose was just staring down at her untouched bowl. A velvetly-cooked beef stew was asking to be emptied before going cold. It was there waiting in-between her arms, but her arms had just lost their appetite. The extra bowl that was supposed to have been reserved for Jackie's swift recovery was being pillaged by her good for nothing husband. There was only one thing left a mother could do, and that would be to save her own portion for the sake of her child. It wasn't like an empty stomach was going to make her keel over anyway, she'd just make do with bread not few times in the past.

Guarding the thought in the back of her mind Rose carried on questioning why the other one wasn't eating any either. Bobby Joe was surely making those disgusting slurping sounds with the spoon in his mouth that were enough to rob anyone of their sanity, but even those obnoxious slurps and belches had never proven enough acidic for her little avid eater's stomach. Something else was on his mind obviously.

He was gazing at his stew and sometimes he'd peek at the clock as if something had been gnawing at him. Rose hazarded a guess that her son was just annoyed Bobby Joe had returned and couldn't wait for the moment to skip out the post-dinner catch-up pleasantries. But then a single detail made her realize her assumptions were slightly off the mark. For a split second his lids batted bashfully at Jackie's empty bowl before returning to his own full one. He winced his mouth watching the hot steam slowly dying out.

_"Hmmm...?" She hummed with a good hint on her extending lips, "Now I see.."_

_Great minds think alike after all._

Her son was actually thinking the exact same thing as her. He was waiting for Bobby Joe to finish up eating so he could pass his sister his own bowl. Jack was sitting on hot bricks because his father's annoying eating habits were making his sister all too nauseous to allow her to eat. At this rate those belches were going to make her puke the lone bowl she got to eat before their father joined them. It was taking Bobby Joe way too long to finish up, by the time Jackie would get to look into the bowl the stew would have already turned into greasy sludge, so Jack had to keep stirring it.

Honestly, Rose was both impressed and flattered. How did that old saying go again? 'A cat mother was going to purr for a male that was caring for her kitten as if it was his own?'  _Well, Rose was purring now._  If she were to look back, even though he was the younger one, Jack had always been more of a father to his sister than Bobby Joe had ever been.

Rose's eyelashes were musing longingly as she dared a peek into the future.  _One day, without a doubt, Jack was going to be a great father._

The daughter sighed in relief that she wasn't the only one aggravated by her father's bearings on the table,  _all of them were agitated._  Even her mother was apparently so frustrated that her thumb was unconsciously bending her spoon.

Jackie couldn't remember the last time the four of them had been sitting together like this on the dinner table. How long had it been actually? Few days short of a month? A month? More than that perhaps? If Bobby Joe was good at blowing expectations somewhere it was in setting new family-desertion records every time he would leave the house.

This might sound really sad and wrong actually, but after a few years her father's stunning records bred the idea for an amusing game between Jack and Rose. They'd wager how many days he would last out there and the one with the closest prediction would win. For the record, Rose would usually win most of them.

This actually made Jackie try to recall.

What had they wagered this time again? Jack's winning condition would always be the same.  _His mom would stop pestering him for a month and no less than that._ Rose on the other hand kept coming up with fanciful ideas every time. If Jackie's memory served correct,  _she had said something about rubbing her feet?_

But, her father had been gone for so long this time they had probably forgotten all about the bet. Good thing Jackie was good at keeping track of days. Jack had predicted Bobby Joe would be back after around 25 days, while Rose was confident it'd be a good month, 30 days.

When Jackie turned towards their calendar and began to recount in thought both Jack and Rose eventually noticed the peculiar change in her behavior. She wasn't being nauseous anymore, so something important had likely grabbed her attention.

_Bobby Joe had left on the 27th of October and today was the 24th of November._

She looked down and began to uncurl her fingers one by one. It didn't take much time for Jack and Rose to connect the dots after taking a look themselves at what Jackie had been staring at. On the 1st of November they had intentionally not turned the page over to the next month, it was still on October, and the 27th had been circled for reference. The pencil mark was barely visible though, someone seemed to have used a rubber on it.

_"AW MAN!..." A thunderbolt rode up Jack's ridge._

_"...How did that..!? Nice work Jackie...!" Rose's angry lip had remembered, but after a gasp it had returned even angrier, livid. Rubbing the circle off the marked date was not the only unmarked thing on the calendar._

Reeling back she showered a nasty glower at the fidgets crawling up like maggots on her son, he looked like a cornered rat in front of this mother cat's menace.

_"Little bastard! Thought you'd let that slip right under my nose, didn't you!?"_

That was the look of someone who was guilty of charge. He must have been keeping a close eye on the calendar and when he realized the odds had started to tilt unfavorably with each passing day he just grabbed the rubber.  _Unforgivable, to even think he'd go that far..._

When Jackie turned around her shoulders cringed up, her brother was wearing a bitter sidelong expression at her, like he was ready to tear up.

_"Jackie why the hell did you have to remind her! Haven't I always been there for you!?"_

She drew her brows together in regret, her brother was trapped in a pit with a sleeping beast, but now the beast was awake.

There was still hope though, she wasn't done counting yet. Since both Jack and Rose were staring at her like they were waiting for the official verdict of the jury, she'd make sure to make a thorough and correct count. The most important part was to remember that she wasn't supposed to count the day Bobby Joe would show up, it was a common mistake she'd make in the past and sometimes it would end in Rose's undeserved win. This time she would do the best of her ability to give her brother a glimmer of hope.

1,2,3,4... Her fingers would keep counting days until she reached 27.

Sweatingly he did, but Jack was rejoicing. It was a fully spread palm in Jackie's one hand, a victory sign in the other.

27 was closer to 25 than it was to 30. It was a narrow win, but a win nevertheless. Jack turned and grinned like a smug weasel to Rose, but the mother hadn't thrown in the towel yet.

_Because Jackie reckoned something was off in her count._

She was missing something. Did October really have 30 days? The calendar said so, but she could swear it was wrong. Thinking about it, their calendar wasn't really a calendar, it was just twelve blank pages pinned together and everything on it was hand-written... and the one who had taken the liberty to fill in those blank pages with months, days and numbers... was none other than her brother.

If he had already tinkered with the calendar once, what guarantee did she have that he hadn't tinkered with it a second time? Jackie really wanted to help him, but if there indeed was foul play in the bet, she'd show no mercy. There was no other option, she had to use the old knuckle rule. It was the only way to know for certain. Jackie was counting the months first to last according to the 'mountains' and 'valleys' on her knuckles.

Her eyes widened a bit.

She showed Jack and Rose 7 fingers again... but then to a slowly realized nightmare Jack watched that coveted 'victory' sign change into an 'okay' sign. It was actually 28 days, since October had 31 days.

_Busted._

Jack toppled and slammed his face on the table. He had been outwitted by Jackie...  _BY JACKIE!_

"B~UUUURP..! Can't argue with that!"

Bobby Joe had no damn clue what was going on, it was like the three of them were speaking in the mute's hardcoded language.  _Well good for them_ , he wasn't expecting something better from this family, communicating with signs like mandrills kind of suited them. He wasn't even gonna bother cracking that monkey language. All he knew was that they were letting him munch on bread and slurp on his spoon without asking questions. They were letting him be and he was letting them be. This was a family dinner mood he could get used to.

On the other hand Jackie's cheeks were swelling, she felt like she was going to puke again. How was he able to belch and talk with all that bread stuffed in his mouth?

"Uurk!" She took cover under the table, another second and she'd have thrown up for real.

_But, under the table, the happenings that were unfolding would make her turbulent stomach disappear as if it was never there._

With an elegance that was no second to Cinderella's her mom was drawing her slender toes out of their flip-flop confines to offer a luscious bare leg to her prince...  _who had lost a bet._

Jack's eyes were dead. Her foot was already dangling in front of his crotch for its rightful prize.  _Did he really have to?_  He dragged his eyes up to see what kind of expression she had put on.

_"Twenty-five days? Please... You're putting way too much faith in your father hon."_

He could practically hear what that self-indulging leer was saying.

_"...Bullocks..." He mumbled to himself as he swallowed the pill of defeat, the sooner he'd get to work the sooner it'd be over._

_Start off by softly kneading the calf, then her achilles tendon, ankles, heel, bridge, sole, instep arch, finally the ball. Rinse and repeat._

_Even though he hated his task, if his fingers happened to stumble on something that did not line up smoothly along his treatment, Jack would pause and stare at it quite inhospitably. There was a tiny lump inside her instep arch, probably some nerves tangled into a knot due to overwork. Truth be told even though his mom may not be doing the heavy lifting he'd do, her legs would be standing no fewer hours than his. In any case, that thing needed to go. Leave it be and it was going to ambush her with a cramp the moment she'd be least expecting it._

_"Mm..mmm..." Rose was inwardly moaning on a slumped back._

Her kid could work wonders when he put his mind into it. One would think that running around the farm all day covered in sweat and dust would make his hands forceful and brutish, but that dull feeling of relief she was currently basking in was the undeniable painting of a savage art.

Jackie's eyes were suddenly stretching uncomfortably.

Giving their mom too much of what she wanted was like asking her to cross the line, even if one didn't mean to. Jack was not massaging her foot anymore, his hands were spread wide and cold, because her foot was massaging  _him_  instead. Jackie was a witness to an indecent act from her mother, but that was not the bigger issue here. Her father was leisurely digging in food, while her mom was leisurely digging in  _her brother_! It was dangerous, indecent, shameless, but what would happen next,  _what would happen next!_

Jackie was fully aware voyeurism was in itself an indecent act, but this had never happened before. She was already feeling that her chronic tedium was nothing but a yesterday's cold.

A bead of sweat trickled on his temple as Jack rose a smirk back to his temptress of a mother, because Jack would be lying if he said he wasn't tempted. Tempted to know if today was the day he'd finally tie her up in the closet for real. She was just lackadaisically hugging her chest, rolling her neck playfully and biting the tip of her tongue with her lustful canines.  _What a shameless face, and yet, she was goading him._

_"What are you going to do now? Tell your daddy mom is doing naughty things to you..?"_

Of course Jack couldn't do that. Bobby Joe catching wind of the situation was the same as willingly throwing themselves under a bus. It was suicide. Besides, as much a crazy nut she was, Jack was not on Bobby Joe's side. It was Jack's responsibility to deal with his mom's whimsical leash, one way or the other.

Jackie gasped out of her daze when Jack's hand started moving again, it was searching for something, high up under the table's corners where some iron hinges were holding the table together. One of them was a bit loose and Jack seemed to be reaching for something that was jammed inside the gap.

"ANH _—_?!"

The mother's reflex kicked up the table when something suddenly poked her foot.

 _As expected of her brother,_ Jackie was blinking in awe.  _When push came to shove, his wits had no match._ He had been hiding a small fork under the table, in case of emergencies like that.

"Hmph!" Rose crossed her legs, she was hurt...  _for three seconds really._ A dispassionate blizzard possessed her eyes,  _"This isn't over..."_

"Can't argue with that!" Bobby Joe remarked giving his stuffed belly a few slaps.

The sponger suddenly became the center of attention. Surprisingly his stomach hadn't  _spoken_  this time, so what couldn't he argue with?

"...What?" He was feeling so full even his shrug was lazy, "Jus' sayin' is true the chicken sou' packs sum real kick."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Rose leaned a bit closer to confirm something inside the leftovers of his bowl.

"You do realize that's beef stew, right Bobby?"

He pretended to understand as he nodded with an impressed face.

"Can't argue with that!"

...

_...Holy shit._

Rose, Jack and Jackie were staring in sulking awe. Those belches weren't just for show. Bobby Joe was totally stonkered. After letting that unremarkable fact sink in Rose turned and leaned on her chin a bit too territorially over the table,  _she wondered now..._

Jack's spine shot a high voltage to stick him uptight against the chair, while Jackie was just shuddering and covering her eyes.  _'Great minds thought alike' after all._ Even the shy Jackie could easily read the mood _._

 _If Rose straddled Jack on his chair and started fucking him right there and then_ , Bobby Joe was probably just going to say 'he couldn't argue with that', wasn't he?

.

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	6. Chapter 6

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.

Bobby Joe was not going to keep them on the table for  _pleasantries_  after dinner that night.

Or to be more specific, he could not afford to keep  _himself_  up more than what he already had. Indulging to a feather-like light head from all that drinking was truly a godsent bliss that he could not imagine not being a sweet slice of his every day life.. but at the end of the day, he would once again be reminded how nothing in this world was kind enough to take care of his needs free of charge. Just like women, alcohol had a tax to collect, and this wasn't about the fat load of cash he'd have to watch himself surrendering to the bartender's greedily awaiting  _fat hand._

Bliss would last for a good couple of hours, that's what he was paying a fortune for _—_   _limited time in a heavenly asylum_. After that, the bomb of cocktails in his stomach would finally start to show its true face, and no soup, stew or bread was going to stop it from claiming its prize. When the time had come to pay for his addiction, his vision would begin to fog at first, then slowly blur out of focus, till his suffering senses eventually gave up this vain struggle and walked off a cliff. The moment he began to see three Roses, three Jacks, and three Jackies, he freaked out.  _The problems had multiplied._

 _Staggering_  he got up from his chair to never spare a second thanking his wife for supper,  _staggering_  he resigned to bed without saying goodnight to any of them. With his time in the heavenly asylum already expiring, his only partner in bed that night would be a long-forgotten memory from hell.  _A hangover._

There were days alcohol would come back to bite him in the ass, but why the hell did it have to be today? He had been drinking like this for like, what? 30 years and a few? Over the years alcohol had even started to lose its potency over him, and so did the hangovers. His liver was probably in such a rotten shape it had started to look more like an alcohol sponge instead of a liver, but still, it could always handle a heavy glass.

_A hangover this bad out of damn nowhere, his head would be splitting in half all day tomorrow... Shit._

.

.

Jackie's nape had already made a shallow nest on the pillow as she recalled the luckily uneventful dinner afterword.

Once Bobby Joe was out of the picture her mother and brother whispered her to have another bowl before going to bed. Truth be told, she hadn't been eating all that well while down with a fever, her stomach had kind of closed the shutters to food, but that didn't really mean she'd have to make up for her lost meals as soon as she got up from bed. Little did she know that she had no opinion on the matter though, as the sparks in Jack's and Rose's bolting glares said she was going to anyway. Their amber eyes could be really scary when they were dead-set on something, like two pairs of solar flares ready to spatter lava at her.

To be perfectly honest her appetite hadn't returned to a full hundred percent just yet, but her mom's beef stew was just so delicious she secretly wished she could go for maybe another half a bowl if possible. Her father's unexpected presence on the dinner table had been making her regret emptying the lone bowl she ate, let alone wishing for extras, but the moment he was out of the kitchen her stomach was meekly peeping out again.

The problem was not that there were no reserves, it was that there were actually  _two bowls_  in the queue, Jack and Rose were fighting to push their respective bowl on Jackie and in the end both bowls had been promoted at the precipice of the table. Jackie couldn't help but get nervous as her mother's and brother's cheeks started squeezing against each other's to snatch the lead, eagerly waiting to see which one she would pick. Jackie didn't want to favor one of them and possibly dishearten the other in doing so, thus she just ate about half a bowl from Rose's stew and then about half a bowl from Jack's.

It was way more than she could handle, but she had to make her stomach expand to keep the both of them satisfied.

Jackie couldn't have been greedy even if she wanted too, in the end she had left the two bowls more than half-filled for her mother and brother to help themselves to. Her gloomy nod wished for them to go to bed not with an empty stomach again. They smiled as reassurance and saw her off to bed without letting her near the sink to worry about the dishes, today was still her day off.

"..."

_She remembered an old bedtime story her mom would use to tell her at night, a novel about 'The Three Musketeers'. In that story it was 'all for one and one for all'. All friends would rush to save one comrade, and one comrade would put everything at stake to save all of them. It was a beautiful story of enmity and friendship, trust and betrayal, love and hate. Jackie would be particularly captivated by the hero going by the name D'Artagnan. He was always the one to jump head-first into battles, never cowering before numbers and odds, always fighting on the ropes, always fighting with his life on the line._

_She had always seen a curious resemblance in that story, how her family of three was just like 'The Three Musketeers'. It would make her wonder if her mom also saw it like this too, thus the reason she had taken a liking for telling that bedtime story. There was only a small difference between their family story and that of 'The Three Musketeers' though.._

_Their family..._

_...did not have a D'Artagnan._

_Bobby Joe was not the selfless, brave and courageous hero D'Artagnan was... The 'hero' Jackie wanted for a father... Bobby Joe was more of a nefarious figure, one much like cardinal Richelieu in the novel._

"..."

_...What would the three musketeers have done if they were in their shoes? What would they have done without D'Artagnan? Would they have given up? Would they have drowned in grief D'Artagnan never showed up to put an end to cardinal Richelieu's evil schemes?_

"..."

Jackie's eyes wore a dismal glint as they waded towards the roof of her bedroom, past the small prison-like skylight tower that was narrowly filtering her bed with a clouded moon's pale hope.

_No... the three musketeers would have never given up. Because the youngest, the bravest of them, would take a selfless decision to make them remember what 'The Three Musketeers' were standing for; 'All for one, and one for all'. He was only 9 years old when he bid farewell to his other two musketeer friends, because from that day on the young musketeer would not be a musketeer anymore, he would not be able to spend time with his two friends like he always had._

_Wearing his last smile as a musketeer, he donned a mask, to take up D'Artagnan's role. When his lids slowly parted to behold the stage from behind the mask, his eyes would not be the same anymore. They were the last-reminiscing eyes of someone knowing he had to be someone else, eyes that could not afford to dwell downcast in a musketeer's memories, but in_ _D'Artagnan's steadfast resolve. He had to be someone else, he had to gaze forward..._

_...B_ _ecause the promised hero..._

_..._

_...had never come..._

_..._

Jackie's palm was stifling the convulsing wails that were screaming for release, but a runlet of bitter tears had already mapped its course. Through her agonal sniffs all she could see was a lean, taut back, licked by dozens of whips, turned at her, and the spiky ends of black hair rippling upwind as he stepped into autumn's challenge. He was walking away from her, wearing a mask, to fulfill his duty as someone else.

_"Why did father have to be the evil cardinal.. Why did you have to be D'Artagnan.. Why did we have to stop playing together like we always had.."_

Jackie was timid, but she had not always been glum and broody, nor had she been reduced to a shell of a girl because she had just lost her voice. She was like that because a very important person was not making her days shine anymore. She had lost those halcyon days playing together with her little brother, she was desperate because she didn't even know what kind of damned sign language she was supposed to speak to let him know that she was missing those times they were together, _that she wanted him to take off that mask and be a musketeer again._

_She pined for those days, so much her heart was wilting._

_Where was her little brother?_

_Where had he gone?_

Jackie was twisting in her bed, her back, her legs, all her body was lying on needles.

_There were times she thought she could still see his face past that mask, like back at the fireplace where he embarrassed her and laughed at her. But they were only echoes... Solemn echoes of a long-gone musketeer. Her little brother had been wearing D'Artagnan's mask for over 9 years already, he had matured from a child into an adult wearing that mask. Somewhere down that road, D'Artagnan's mask had become his real face._

"..."

_...They were distant echoes, she already knew that, but those echoes were hurting like no other. They were haunting her like a candle's dying glow that her little brother may still be in there, somewhere in his heavy heart wishing he could be a musketeer again. Even thinking that such a dying possibility may exist..._

The back of her wrist was laying defeated atop the sticky brown curls of her forehead. Jackie had been panting heavily, like her body was steaming and suffocating despite the freezing cold that had made a lodge in her room. Like always, hindsight was what would make her anxiety attacks relent.

It was disappearing behind the clouds again, the moon. Just like her wistful dreams, the moonlight's veil was walking away from her bed, like a receding tide, tapering, casting enwidening silhouettes on her rumpled blanket, till the last thinning beam perished like a silk thread from her imprisoned gaze.

_A jet black, unstarry, hopeless sky._

"..."

_A frustrating opportunity, knocking her closet's door._

Every person was hiding skeletons in their closet, and nocturnal fiends like skeletons were very fond of such unstarry nights, because no one would see them lurking out of the closet. Her body was still steaming from before and her gown was already sticking uncomfortably on her skin, there was no way she'd be able to just roll over and sleep after getting worked up like that.

She had been resting well for a week and on top of that today even her belly had a good fill. With two out of three vital needs crossed out, her body was popping arrow marks around the third,  _downward_  need. It meant a world of shame to her, but it was unavoidable still. Jackie closed the shutters on her eyes as the dormant fingers next to her thigh began to lurk, like skeletons out of the closet. They were collecting her long cotton gown into their palm, slowly undressing her timid legs.

Hard as it was to say, that was the  _easy_  part.

Jackie knew that it was what would follow next that was so shameful one could never gain knowledge of.

Her fingers were cautiously sliding under the elastic fabric of her underwear, there was no other soul inside this room, but Jackie had always treated this matter with a discretion such as if ears may be listening on the walls. Her tongue had been pressing against the roof of her mouth as the index, middle, and ring fingers were forging heroic beelines through the savanna to reach their destination point. She was really trying to make her patience last, but her tongue gave up and clicked, irritated. Her pubic hair had rubbed her the wrong way again. One week on the bed was enough to make it grow back this much.

[...]

Of course she hadn't been letting the problem take its natural  _growing_  course, back when she was still a kid, eight or so, her mom had given her a good couple of hints. It was on a day when they were both in the bathroom, with Jackie washing her body under the shower and her mom chilling inside the bathtub, water up to the neck. Jackie was watching and wondering why her mom would be shaving her armpits and legs almost every day. Armpits she could kind of understand, though she would only grow some harmless light-colored peach fuzz on her legs, yet still insisted on getting rid of it like it was pesky weed growing on the wrong side of the fence.

"A girl must always take good care of her body you know, guys will notice these kinds of things."

Around that time Jackie regretted even asking.

The purpose behind her mom's shaving was some weird thing called maintaining appearances to look pretty in men's eyes.

"It's not  _weird_! If you need to know guys grow beards and have to shave every day just like we do."

Jackie's brows were questioning that.

"Um... Don't look at dad... Look at... Grandpa. Yes, grandpa Leroy. His face is always smooth and clean, is it not?"

That was true. Whenever her grandpa would visit and start rubbing his face on Jackie's his cheeks would almost be as smooth as her little brother's. Almost.

Grandpa Leroy's legs were more hairy and curly than a bear's though, so why wasn't he shaving those?

"J-Jackie.." Rose put on the most good-willed smile she could find, but a vein on her temple was twitching, "Let's continue this conversation when you grow a little, okay baby?"

Her mom said so... But Jackie had already shrugged off this chat's purpose along with the hints her mom had given her.

It was sometime during Jackie's thirteenth year, when she darted to the bathroom and ambushed her mom while she was humming in the shower.

"JACKIE!" Startled Rose whipped a towel around her body, tucking the sides in, "What's gotten into you!?"

By that time Jackie had already lost her voice, so there was no other way to let her know.

"~AAAAAH!" Rose screamed and tripped on the soap bar when her daughter pulled down her shorts.

Apparently this was a problem, going by her mom's reaction.

"W-Well see..." Rose was scooting her hips to find a safe distance and collect herself, the corner was fine, "M-Maybe I forgot to tell you.. but armpits and legs are not the only parts a girl should look after."

Jackie was growing frustrated, how was she supposed to deal with it then? Comb it or something? It just looked so...

"Jackie." Rose required her attention, "Pick one."

She was holding scissors in one hand, a razor in the other.

Jackie didn't like this, she pulled up her shorts and backed away.

It was a bad idea asking her mom for help, she looked like she was determined to perform some kind of vicious surgery on her.

"I see..." A glint was whetting intentions in her eye, Rose pressed her knee against the floor for a pouncing attack, "Looks like I'll have to fleece that for you."

F-FLEECE?! What was she!? A SHEEP!?

Jackie darted the other way to run for her life, but her mom was already flying above her like an airborne tiger.

_clip~clip~clip~clip_

And that's how Jackie had lost her first fleece. Trimmed down, thrown into the tub, then shaved clean. She understood how babies felt when they were being baptized, more or less.

At first she was self-conscious how her pubic area looked eerily bald, vulnerable-like, but after a few hours she realized how she was feeling a lot lighter as well. Once again she could feel the breeze between her legs. It was only a few days later that she visited the bathroom again, something was bothering her, so she had come seeking further enlightenment from her wise mother. This time it was Jackie who was holding scissors and a razor. She looked troubled deciding after looking at each one. Eventually she turned towards her mom, shrugging with a dilemma.

"That's up to you sweetie." Rose was brushing her ponytail in front of the mirror, "You can either  _shave_  or  _trim_. Just remember.. Don't ever,  _ever_  let it grow back like  _that_  again, okay?"

Jackie wasn't going to leave without a solid answer, how the hell was she supposed to know which one was better? She stretched her arms, like telling her mom to pick for her.

Rose sighed, there was no way around it when her daughter would get stubborn.

"Look, shaving is the better option. But you have to be both diligent and careful if you go that way. Sink the razor too deep and you will cut yourself, shave at a wrong angle or on a dry skin and you will get razor burns or an infection."

_A razor could actually burn you..?_

_Like, how did that even work? Shave badly and it'll start a fire on you?_

Jackie was already leaning towards the other option, the razor sounded more like a thing to avoid. Her mom had made shaving look like a walk in the park, but Jackie wasn't her mom.

"One last thing."

Wait, there was more!?

"If you go with shaving, you will have to devote yourself to the razor almost every day. No skipping, no cutting corners. You don't want prickly hair like dad's stubble down there, do you?"

Jackie was gawking at Rose, the itch bothering her down there was  _that_!? Why did her mom ever touch her with the razor!?

She lowered the arm holding the razor, it was the scissors for Jackie.

"I'm not against that, in fact trimming is probably the better start for you."

Rose had finished tidying her ponytail and turned around to leave the bathroom.

"But remember.."

However once under the door, she felt like leaving a final word of advice.

"..Guys always like it best  _shaved clean_."

The suggestive wink had turned her daughter into a statue of red.

.

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	7. Chapter 7

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.

That parting piece of advice from her mother had made things all the more complicated for Jackie, it was stressing her heartbeat just flying fretful scenarios about a possible love interest having to pin her shoulders against the wall to question her why her womanly parts were poorly tended,  _unwomanlike,_ just because she was afraid to use a razor. She wasn't so unknowledgeable as not to suspect what Rose was talking about.

When a boy and girl decided to be together they would eventually have to get intimate, in other words body contact and other stuff would be waiting just around the corner. Unshaved armpits, legs, or pubic hair, they were all embarrassing skeletons in a girl's closet. Body hair was for the guys, like her grandpa Leroy, who was not embarrassed to show a manlike growth on his legs. Girls on the other hand, being the rival gender, weren't just going to showcase the same qualities as grandpa Leroy, it was ridiculous to even think about.

They had to show something different.

Men were too lazy to shave anything besides their beards,  _some of them_  were so lazy they were not shaving  _even those_. So, where men were like lazy, yawning lions to bother, girls would have to show they were neither lazy nor yawning. They'd show the men they could take care of their bodies better than they did, so the men would drop their jaws at how meticulously-cared a girl's body could be.

A mountain of adult-logic was slowly sinking in to Jackie's naive mind. She was slowly seeing the reason why her mom had been undertaking 'maintenance' on a sharp schedule. Now thinking like a woman herself, she was starting to understand the crucial point of making the difference.

[...]

Now she was already nineteen, possessing an even more conscious outlook about those things than when she was just a girl. It was exactly because Jackie had woken up to reality that she was trusting her own judgement. Time and time again she'd weigh up the pros and cons of shaving, but the end result would always be the same.

_It wasn't worth it._

Her mom had said  _guys_  liked their girls shaved clean, but Jackie didn't have someone like that. What was the point of going through shaving every day when nobody was going to notice her anyway? From her point of view it was just wasted time and effort. She'd just settle for half-measures, trimming the bush down to a savanna, just enough so that it didn't get in the way. Cutting through a savanna was better than squeezing your way through a wild bush for sure, still worse compared to a smooth downslope trip on a snowsled nonetheless.

She only wished her mom had never introduced her to the razor, that smoothness from back then truly had no equal. Even having her pubes trimmed was inadequate compared to that clean feeling, it was the very reason she'd be especially reminded of her pitiful half-measures when she'd try to indulge in her private time, somewhere in her mind regretting not shaving and thus losing yet another opportunity to experience that amazing feeling again. Nevertheless, it was all a matter of time before she'd acclimate and compromise for that inadequate feeling. Once she'd reach the destination point and get her fingers down to work, she'd forget all about pubic hair, scissors, razors and whatnot.

Her knees were coming together in anticipation, ready to embrace that coveted tingling jolt.

_"—!" Her_ _back shot up into an arc, naturally flinching as if a stream of sensitivity had zapped her body._

It was only her fingertip lightly touching it, the little button responsible for making the sealed floodgates of pleasure wobble like jelly. She was slowly stirring it around and around, taking her time to savor the jelly's tingling delight.

Now it was time for Jackie's mind to sink inside an ocean of deep, intimate fantasies.

...

_...Intimacy..._

_..._

[...]

Years ago, the very first time Jackie had learnt how to  _make the jelly wobble_ , fantasizing about intimacy and all that word carried,  _the other stuff_  in particular, the foremost  _image_  coming to Jackie's mind were the nitty-gritty  _noises_. Bouncing bed springs and the kind of gluttonous groanings her father would make on her mother at nights he'd be in the mood.

 _...Frustrating_ , that's what hearing  _bouncing bed springs_  was like. Frustrating for having to listen to them, frustrating that someone else was having fun, frustrating that she didn't have anyone making those noises for her. Frustrating...  _and ridiculously arousing._

The earliest time since Jackie could still retain those noises in her memory was when she was still nine, while her little brother was only eight. It was driving her nuts listening to her father go at it those nights, so much that Jackie was almost certain her father was pounding Rose near the wall on purpose. Jack and Jackie's bunk was situated far into their room's innermost corner because that's where the room would be less freezing, however on the other side of that wall was attached their parents' bed as well. No need to say, wooden walls weren't soundproof, not by a tiny bit. They could hear it so transparently one would beg to think the shared wall wasn't even there. To make matters worse, Bobby Joe was plowing their mother right behind that wall as if he wanted Jack and Jackie to listen to the springs very closely.

Jackie's intuition was not wrong, for the most part.

What she didn't know was that this was in fact her father's way of getting revenge on Rose for never giving him the pleasure of getting to tap his ear on even a single one of her moans. It was already bad enough that he had been married to a slut who had been taking cocks like there was no tomorrow, but the rumors were also claiming she was even  _more_  of a slut in bed.

He'd think that at least getting to hear those slutty moans from the rumors would slightly redeem his pathetic marriage, but that broken whore wouldn't even do him service with her mouth. She was hardly living up to her slutty reputation, what a damn letdown she was. Well, not that it really mattered. What mattered was to punish her for being a defective slut, by pounding her on the wall where on the other side her precious gems were trying to close their eyes.

Obviously this was a laughing matter to Bobby Joe himself alone. Being an older sister with a better grasp on the happenings Jackie would have to make sure her little brother was not forgetting to seal his vulnerable ears, or worse, actually having his curiosity picked by the rapidly increasing slapping tempo coming from the wall.

There was no helping it, Jackie would have to climb off her bed and creep in Jack's so she could protect her brother, she had to plug his ears with her palms at all costs. Stranded in this situation the two siblings would have to keep staring at each other without saying a word, but it was still better for Jackie to be there, acting as an adult, than just leaving her little brother alone and possibly start asking himself questions that were a decade ahead of him.

That's what Jackie's instincts as a big sister were telling her, but there were times instinct and mind would find one another in conflict. Jack would always do unexpected things Jackie would not anticipate from a boy younger than her. It wasn't even anything big, but to Jackie it was the shine of a considerate and mature character. He had been observing and registering how his sister's eyes would be having a hard time because her hands would be occupied protecting  _his_  ears, so he'd return the kindness by protecting  _hers_.

They would be still staring at each other, but it'd not be awkward anymore, because Jack was smiling at her.  _Scratch my back and I'll scratch yours._ That was actually comforting Jackie, so much she'd start questioning her own intentions for leaving her bed. Was she really the one protecting her little brother? Or was she seeking refuge in his bed because she knew he'd always return the favor and protect her? It was true that having her ears covered by her little brother was a lot more comforting than just doing it on her own, it was making her feel like she was not alone in this.. because she  _was_  alone in this.

Jackie was actually a bit envious at how fortunate her brother was. He didn't have to suffer listening to sounds of intimacy coming from his mom, because Rose had always refused to actively participate in Bobby Joe's mating calls. If her mother would allow her composure to waver,  _even for a second_ , Jack was definitely going to understand what it was like to go through what Jackie was going through.  _It was hell._  Because to Jackie, a girl, listening to a grown man producing those mating sounds,  _was very agitating_. It was normal to assume that the same would apply for Jack, would his mom ever make erotic sounds.

On that matter, Jackie just couldn't stop thinking about her mom.

_If Jack only knew what their mom's stiff lips must be enduring for their sake._

_Because the only thing Rose could do, was to endure, endure, and endure._

Their mother already knew sex with Bobby Joe would never be about love or passion, it was just about being forced to bend over and fulfill her marital duties to her  _generous_  husband. As Bobby Joe's wife she had to bow down to him, but she'd still try to press for the bare minimum requirements for a passing grade. Rose spreading her legs for Bobby Joe was just one of the many kinds of stay-over fees her husband would come to collect from them.

They all knew the house they were living in was not theirs, it was property under Buck's name, now passed down to Bobby Joe. If Bobby Joe ever deemed they were not offering him the appropriate tribute for allowing them to stay as guests in his house, Rose and her children would find themselves without a home faster than a wind could whistle. Bobby Joe had nothing to lose from such an unfortunate ending, because all that he had always wanted, he already had.  _His father's riches._

Bobby Joe would give one final strong thrust, hoping to hear Rose stifling a bitter cry. If she wasn't going to moan for him, she was going to cry in pain for him. Because there were nights his meager stamina reserves would not go against further depletion from beating up Rose as a follow-up punishment for refusing to turn him on.

It was those nights that Jackie's wolf-pup brother's fangs were ready to tear down the wooden wall, madly fancying it as if it was made from nothing but paper. That was the other reason Jackie would have to be there for Jack, to keep his thrashing body down on the bed as the pangs in their mom's muffled groans from the belt whips were secretly crying for a help that was never going to come.

Either way, the noises would eventually relent. But quiet still wouldn't last more than a minute, for Jackie would soon start to feel the walls shaking like a truck was passing by. She wished it would really just be a passing truck, even for once, because those were her father's deep snores. He'd always knock himself out in a one-sided feast.

Once the snores would kick in Jackie would stick her ear on the wall waiting to catch a distinctive sound.  _A door unlocking._  That would be Jackie's cue to order her brother to stay in bed while she'd make haste to check on her mom. She still remembers the many times Rose would shamble out of that door, bruised on the face, lacerated at the shoulders, worse for wear. She still remembers how her mom would always have the look of a corpse in her gaze as she'd turn to hardly notice the concerned Jackie standing there. That wasn't the look of a woman who had gotten raped and violated by a man, but of a woman that had been touched by a vile corpse.

_"Even hard, he's still limp..." She'd grudgingly mutter to herself..._

_..and those were the only times Jackie would actually see her lively mom wear her black gown as if she was wearing a cloak of misery._

Word was already out after all. Everyone had been hearing the rumors go around, how wearing unhealthy habits had in turn been causing Bobby Joe to wear an unhealthy libido already before he climbed the church. Not only he was raping and beating their mother, he was also incapable of making her finish. He was using her like a sex slave for his own leisure, yet would always leave her wallowing in unfulfillment. Bobby Joe's highest record keeping it up was fifteen minutes, and that was when he was still in his 30's. Now that he was forty-nine, his best record seemed like an uncatchable faraway dream.

On one hand Rose was utterly resentful her wedding ring was binding her to someone who couldn't make her come even  _once_ , on the other hand, she was grateful this embarrassment would only last for a few minutes.

Even though her mom's sulking face was smoldering in a mood so sour that was making her reluctant to much roll an eye, Rose would find it in herself to smilingly signal Jackie to go back to bed with a suggestive tilt of her head. Jackie would start taking tentative backward steps, disappearing back inside the room as her mom wanted her to, but in actuality Jackie would only _pretend to leave,_ because she'd be not the least convinced her mom was okay.  _What was she going to do next?_

Many times would Jackie secretly track her mom's tail as she headed for the bathroom, and many times she had caught her  _wobbling the jelly, right on the toilet seat_. Jackie was spying on her through the keyhole. It was from that keyhole that the eleven year old Jackie had figured how to unlock her own body's desires. After experimenting with her little button for the first time, Jackie had learnt what a climax was. She had also realized why her mom would head for the bathroom every time after sex. It was obvious her dad wasn't satisfying her, so her mom had to sit and fix Bobby Joe's unsettled tabs all by herself.

Well, if it wasn't shameful for her mom, a married woman, to be playing with herself, why should  _Jackie_  feel shameful for doing it?

And that's how it started.

[...]

...

_...Intimacy..._

_..._

Yes, in the beginning Jackie would only be fantasizing about her mom and dad doing it as she'd play with herself. But while fantasizing of such things was helpful material, it was also unbelievably unsatisfying. Thinking of  _other_  people doing it, indulging in the arousal and pleasure  _others_  had to be bathing in.. It was just pathetic, especially the moment her mom was literally suffering. It was leaving a huge void of unfulfillment inside of her, a void growing larger every time she'd use the noise of the bouncing springs next to room to reach for her own climax.

When she had turned fourteen Jackie's state of mind was slowly reaching a breaking point, on top of everything she had to go through a phase with side-effects no one had warned her about;  _Puberty._ She would act on an unusual short trigger, she hated having to confront her mom for little things, she despised her prison-like life in the farm, she wanted to meet someone and go out on dates with him. At some point she even started hating herself, for always having been timid and not giving her opinion voice, and how now she had completely  _lost_  her voice like god had decided to give her a fitting punishment for not talking when she was still able to. Everything was twisting and warping around her.

Her berserking hormones would not let her mind rest for a second, and as natural, having to listen to sex and violence in the other room almost every night did not make for an effective tranquilizer.

_She could not talk._

_No one could understand her._

_No one... but a single person._

Many things had changed for Jackie, but not all. She'd still resort to her brother's bed when things would start getting loud in the other room.

Jack was thirteen, he had already let it sink deep that there was nothing he could do about those bouncing springs, beatings and cries coming from the other bed. The one time he had tried to put an end to it by breaking into their parents' room it indeed ended.. really really bad for  _them,_ that is. His naive heroics had brought more harm than it had brought good. He had learnt the painful way how it was not wise to disturb a ferocious wolf, especially when the wolf would be busy beating up his insubordinate mate.

Now he would just be too tired to stay up all night only to get more frustrated, he had been working full-time in the farm for the past four years and it was taking its toll on him. Quite admittedly, Jack's puberty had been following a different path than Jackie's. All that frustration he was feeling, all that anger, he was taking it out in the fields, swinging the pickaxe, the hoe, the hammer, and it was working. Both for him, and for the awful load of labor that had to be taken care of around the farm. Unconsciously as it may be, he was blowing off the steam in his boiling hormones through a different, effective channel.

_...Why was he so lucky...?_

Jackie failed to see the balance of justice there, watching her brunette sibling sleep peacefully in front of her face with no regard for what was happening in the next room. He was still holding her ears as she was holding his, but while Jackie was making sure not the slightest sound would reach his ears, Jack wasn't doing the same for her... He was fast asleep, allowing every sound crawl inside Jackie's ears from the breaches of his sleeping hands.

_...When did he desert her..?_

_...'Scratch my back and I'll scratch yours', wasn't it..?_

_...Now selfishly shutting his eye ahead of her before the noises were over..?_

_...It was not fair... her brother had found his scapegoat in the fields.._

_...But what about her..? What about her own scapegoat..?_

Clicking her tongue as she kept getting flooded with all those betrayed questions her body weighed with no remorse as it mounted the center of the bed.

"Mm...nnh.." Jack grumbled, groggily stretching his arm and rubbing his eye as he slowly came to  _"..Morning already..?"_

But when he tried to roll himself and get off the bed, his sides had been arrested,  _both ways._ Calling his arms back to investigate in what weird manner he had managed to tangle himself in the bed this time, he unexpectedly tapped on two slim bare calves.

"...

...Sis..?"

He blinked a couple of times to clear the fog from his eyes, maybe he was still half-asleep, probably having a dream back from the days they'd use to wrestle each other down.

...

_..No... That definite weight holding him down was no dream, it was real._

_Soon his ear was enough awake to tap onto the usual noises next room._

_..It was still midnight...?_

But, why was his sister staring at him like that, so distantly... _and so... viciously...?_  What was going on? Had she woken up on the wrong side of the bed from all the noise?

Jack was trying to make himself budge and move, but she had bolted him down with her knees, he was trapped inside the quicksand their joined weights had caused on the sagging mattress.  _He wasn't going anywhere._ Jack was starting to get cold to the bone in this situation,  _this was just getting weird_. He already knew Jackie had lost her voice, but something inside her wide stare was telling that even if she could talk right now, she wouldn't. Waking up to barely visible surroundings, only the full moon's golden glade was reflecting on Jackie's gaze. She was watching him with an absolute stillness, like she was waiting... like...  _she was preying on him... through a wolf's spiteful, golden eyes._

_..._

_...Why does it always have to be their bed making the noise...?_

Ever slightly their bed's springs would finally begin to crackle as Jackie reached down to remove the distance between them.

The scruff of his neck was vainly searching for a burrow to dig inside his pillow, she was so close he could feel her nose lightly breathing on his. If her full moon eyes were a cause for caution before, what was that scheming-like _leer_  now supposed to mean? Did she hold it against him for something he had done?

"..Jackie!.." He whispered, hardening a glare that was a breath away from her leer, "..I knocked you off the bed or something?.."

And then waiting to see if she'd come around to her senses, but apparently his sister didn't seem to have the slightest intention to give him space. She was completely ignoring him, and that had set a timer on Jack's patience, even more so since he had to solve this in a lowkey manner.

"Cut it out—seriously..! Those eyes are giving me the cree—... _ps... **?!**_ "

Fastening her leer she had ambushed the unguarded mouth, not letting a second's fracture go to waste as she swiftly pressed all the way in sideways for retaliation.

"Mh!..m~ph!" His cervical vertebrae flinched.

_Α nimble thief had easily slipped through the frontlines of his teeth, already gaining ground on the rearguard in a pursuit mission; to mug his tongue of its privilege to utter words._

Jack was struggling to make his neck bend over backwards and allow his nose to gasp for air that was being taken away from him. Her brother was squirming and snapping his face side to side to free his mouth, but she had already learnt how to hold him down back from the times he'd try to go save their mom from their dad.  _Pin him down overhead at the wrists, overwhelm him with the sensation he had been disarmed._  He could not escape, neither could his tongue from hers. She'd keep going back and forth on his mouth, laying siege after siege, till his tongue had completely yielded to hers.

_That night, Jackie was going to make their bed springs bounce._

[...]

...

_...Intimacy..._

_..._

_...and skeletons in the closet._

Jackie recalled the face her brother had made back at the fireplace when he consoled her guilt.

_"It's alright, it wasn't your fault.." That's what that face had said to her._

_Her brother had forgiven her. 'A kind and understanding person through and through.'_

_Still, for such a kind person, he did slip a terrible lie right under their mom's lie detector of a nose, didn't he? Not the 'lie' Rose was thinking of, about the bet and the calendar._

_"It's good to know you're still a virgin." That's how their mom had teased him, and he was acting as if it was a true and embarrassing reality._

Jackie was smirking inside her wet gown, it was unimaginably pleasant and refreshing how her fingers could enter her slit without having to look out for her hymen.

She still remembers what a forbidding nuisance that thing had been...

_...Five years ago._

.

.


	8. Chapter 8

Two experiences had single-handedly marked her life. The devastation when she lost her voice, nine years ago... and a December night at home, four years after. She would always remember that warm winter night, she would always still feel it every time she'd touch her lips, the fragrance of a sweet nectar, forever lingering inside her mouth, forever gracing her smirk with a guilty bliss she'd keep only for herself.

_How her little brother tasted._

 

.

.

"S _—.._!... _—_ is.. Sto _—mph_..!"

He kept mumbling that incoherent nonsense, not missing a chance to hum it out, every time smuggling sounds under the loose binds  _she_  would generously allow on their tangled tongues, just for the sake of breathing. Yet instead of grabbing those rare chances to get some air her traitor of a brother was using her generosity to try and inform her of those annoying, drowning-like, distress signals. They were irritating,  _music to her ears still_. For four years that had been the very same gibberish she'd awkwardly try to communicate with. And yet here they were, a life full of ironies, never knowing what it might have in store,  _like the day her little brother would be sucked inside her powerless world of no voice._

The peanut-haired sister had hardly paused to mind him, only casting a resentful brown eye to closely meet his alarmed amber, then irritably kicking her jaw back deeper inside to shut him up for being a traitor and daring to have complaints.  _It wasn't like she didn't know what he was trying to say._  If he had only accepted his punishment like a good little traitor she'd have not made this hard on him, but acting like the sky itself had crashed down on him out of nowhere... _it pissed her off._

_He was no victim._

_He was no less guilty than the rest of them._

For that crime she was going to plunder all the available nooks and crannies in his mouth that were giving off the unique flavor of voice. She was going to extend his sentence and he'd have no say in the matter, this would not be over till his eyes wilted with the knowing guilt she wanted to see. Getting a little intimate with his big sister wasn't going to kill him anyway, in fact, it was all the opposite. There was an old saying:  _'Out of sight, out of mind'_.

That was the apparent problem with her little brother, ever since he had found his distraction in the fields, he had forgotten all about her, like all those hours they'd use to spend together during the day playing, laughing and crying, had meant absolutely nothing to him. So, as a bonus, while working on repairing their bonds as brother and sister, Jack was going to learn the taste of someone who had been denied voice, while she'd take her time sapping the taste of words from his useless floundering tongue. It was all about starting fresh, with an honest and promising 'give and take' relationship.

_...He was sweet and sour, like a citrus fruit..._

_...The taste of voice was like an orange maybe?_

_...So that's how her mouth tasted four years ago?_

_"..."_ _No, the taste of voice couldn't be something simple as that..._

_That was right..._

Her brother would use to leave the bed after the lights-out, saying 'nature called' and other convenient excuses. But, Jack had been wearing D'Artagnan's mask now, he was not a musketeer anymore, so how could Jackie have kept trusting the words of someone talking behind a mask? The one time the suspicious signals finally got the better of her Jackie secretly tailed him in the dark and caught him with his hand in the cookie jar, or so to say. Her brother had been addicted to a new weird game ever since he began working full-time in the farm; Jackie would discover what this was about later on, how on some days their mom would hide a fruit somewhere inside the kitchen and in the middle of the night Jack would sneak out of bed to go on a treasure hunt and make a juicy snack out of the hidden prize.

It was a weird game that would make her brows sit down flat from the logic behind it, but...  _it was also twisting a nerve on her temple._ That was about the time Jackie's train of thought mounted the murky rails. Not only she was losing her brother to the fields during the day, now she was also losing him  _to a fruit_  during the night. A  _juicy_  fruit apparently...  _Unlike her._

Wondering what kind of fruit had seduced him this time Jackie kept stirring the mix in their saliva while constantly combating her brother's resistance on parallel fronts.

The fingers arresting his wrists on either side of the pillow were delicate and frail, yet dead-set to show a taut boy how a girl who had lost everything couldn't be taken lightly. Her jaw was weaker and smaller, but that's why she had been able to sneak it inside his and lock him open without a means of defense. Jackie's lips were chapped and flaky, burning from the winter cold, aching with every slight stretch she'd have them take, yet willing to defy pain if it meant leeching on those soft healthy lips of his. She had to keep besting him in every point of contact if she was going to get what she wanted.

"..." She knitted her brows, guiding their tongues to a sudden still at the pretense of a momentary break.

_...It was not an orange, the blend of juices was jarring her differently._

The only flavor Jackie would allow in her mouth at night was her mint toothpaste, but for some odd reason, the refreshing sensation of mint was making the fruit's citric flavors stand out a lot more, both in acidity and sweetness. It was like her tongue was holding a magnifying glass, picking up details she'd have otherwise missed.

_...The analogy was...more sweet...less sour...actually.. rather strong in sweetness..._

"..." She rolled a lie-detecting pupil to meet her brother's always shrunk one, if she carefully looked back, Jack had a thing for a specific fruit growing on a tree outside their farm.

_...It was a tangerine... that citrus fruit would be sweeter than a normal orange._

It was sweet but... Some acidity was still there, kind of putting her off...  _what to do..?_

"Fu _.._ ck _—_ ing.. h _—_ ell!" Jack cursed, suddenly pushing back the invasion in his mouth, and not only...

_Uh-oh, her brother was beginning to put his back into it, that was a problem._

The sudden wake-up pounce in the middle of the night may have come down on him like a cold shower, but Jackie knew her brother was far from being a toothless person. He had always followed simple survival principles that'd help him get back on his feet; understanding a situation, adapting to it.. and then preparing to retaliate. She could soon feel the tendons on his wrists tensing up as knuckles balled to start warding her off, like spelling for him how he had enough of a wake-up shower.

Jackie herself had been thinking that a change of pace was as unavoidable as it was necessary, it had been taking all she had just to hold down his wrists because, sad as it was to face the facts, her physique as a girl was reaching its limits. She had caught him off guard by seizing an opening, but if push came to shove, her brother, albeit a year younger than her, and no less than dead from 15 straight hours of work, would still be at least twice stronger than her. Going for a battle of strength up against Jack was the equal of her plans going down the drain. She couldn't have that.

Well, no one said she wasn't open to fair compromises. If her brother wanted to free his arms that much, they could work it out somehow. However, he'd have to give her something back in return. This was about 'give and take' after all.

_Let's see... What did Jackie want in exchange for his arms..._

_"..." Well, that mild acidity was still bothering her, it had to go, so..._

To his surprise Jack did feel the suppression fade from his wrists, but at the same time something else was changing inside their mouths. Jackie was finally withdrawing her tongue.

_Could it be she came to her senses?... Just what the hell was it that had possessed her..?_

Barely allowing him a few seconds to lift his neck Jackie smirked craftily on her brother's unaware lips, pushing a satiated, bashful kiss. Easily like that the armor of lean muscle Jack had called to his aid numbed, eyes widening with awareness. That was the kind of innocent kiss Jackie would blushingly peck him with back in the days, childhood memories he had buried under the countless piles of his shovel were suddenly flashing before his daze.  _But that's exactly how Jackie had meant to lure her brother._  In a spur that forbade any reaction that innocent kiss had sucked Jack's tongue inside foreign territory _, and then..._

"Mrrgh—?!" His limbs flapped at a sudden pang.

Jackie was quickly busy parrying her brother's panicked arms to keep them away from their mouths, but it was alright.. the guillotine that had sliced into his tongue would only hurt for a little bit longer. She gently cupped his cheeks, almost charmed by how firmly he was holding her small shouldercaps.. if he'd only do it tenderly as well, they'd probably begin to look just like a real couple.

.

.

She was certain that actual romantic relationships existed, not inside their home maybe, but they surely existed, somewhere far away. Realistic and ideal relationships in which two people truly loved one another, making all sorts of fun things together, the things a real couple would do. But, that was not the case with their home. Jackie had been studying how relationships worked by learning from her mom and dad. The conclusion she had arrived at, watching and listening to the intimate moments between her parents, was a rather cynical finding.

_It was not about love or passion, but about forcing your desires on your partner._

_._

_._

Overflowing blood enriched their mouths, the copper's metallic taste washing away the tangerine's acid that had been bothering them.

Yes... that was the real taste of voice, sweet and bloody, _like a sanguine._ The very same sanguine that had been gurgling up in her mouth when her father's grip made the tender bones inside her throat crack.

.

.

... _Why did he even save her...?_

_._

_._

If she knew she was going to lose her voice after that incident she'd rather have never been saved back then.

_"..." Her savior, the traitor..._

She knew that one day her brother would be taken away, Jack was the kind of dedicated invisible rogue that girls would be scouting up from a hill all day long. It was only a matter of time before a foxy wench stuffed him in a bag and marched onward to their new home.

Jackie was the complete opposite to her brother, no one would bother looking at her because she couldn't talk, not only the boys, even the girls were all thinking of her as a freak of nature, an outcast. She was never going to marry, she'd never have friends, she'd never find her happiness. Not only denied her voice, _but a place to belong as well._

It was not a stretch to assume one day her father would just get fed up having her sitting on a rusty shelf inside the house, after that it'd be not long before he'd entertain the idea of selling her like cattle to some old man for a few bucks, since someone as broken as her wasn't going to fetch him more than that.

 _So... Before Jack got stuffed in some girl's bag, before her father sold her like cattle_ —

—Jackie was going to make sure her brother would never forget, even years from that night, even as he'd be climbing the stairs of the church with a happy girl by his side; How the one who had planted the most intimate bloody kiss in his mouth, was his own _, unhappy_ sister _._

"..." Jack's palms were finally not squeezing her shoulders, he seemed to be slowly accepting her affection.

_Those eyes shutting themselves to withstand the pain were pleasant, just like a traitor's that was beginning to understand his offense..._

Signs of repentance were beginning to yield, so Jackie mused letting him catch his breath as a reward. Slowly undoing the binds on their mouths a loose crimson-silk thread refused to separate their exhausted tongues, a forbidden connection that shouldn't be seen or even exist between siblings, yet Jackie loved how that intimate thread was there. The efforts of an incessant kiss hanging amidst the moist clouds of panting breaths. If that wasn't the red string of fate she'd read in stories, what else could it be?

"M..ouse..." Jack pleaded her, amber eyes creasing as she had made sure talking would be painful to him, "Why..What..did I do..?"

Jackie's cold eyes began to mellow as irony curled her lip. He didn't even know his crime, huh..? How were they supposed to make up if they were not even on the same page? But, Jackie couldn't put his crime into words, she was a mute freak of nature after all. The only way she could let him know, was through an expressionless, longing stare.

.

.

_"Your crime against me..._

_...was that you saved me,_ _only to abandon me..._

_..you.._

_...the only one I ever_ — _..."_

_._

_._

The springs succumbed to noise as Jackie was slowly leaning down again, but this time she wouldn't go for her brother's lips. Jack failed to stifle a sound of unease when she softly kissed the scar almost splitting his brunette brow, the one he received the night he saved her from their dad.

Maybe she had overreacted a bit back then, clawing his face out of nowhere as they headed back home. Even now, if she scraped her fingers against the blanket she could still feel the lump of skin lodged underneath her ring nail. It couldn't be helped, she was upset because she had lost her voice and the one to blame for letting her live with this curse was her brother. Come to think of it, she had never properly apologized to him. She could not heal that scar on his face, but she could make it up to him in a different way. There was still something she could help him heal.

The grip on her shoulders was back to faltering as the ghostly drapes of peanut hair were once again coming down to swallow his face.. but the long night of a sister helping her little brother's bitten tongue mend with love was only just starting. It would be unforgivable if he tapped out on her just this soon. She still had plans for them,  _a whole lot of them..._

.

.


	9. Chapter 9

What had pulled the trigger on her doings that night, what had caused her to snap and assault her brother,  _was a confirmation._

When Jack answered to her intentions with a glare's warning, Jackie finally saw the last shred of doubt burn away. The only person she could turn to for comfort,  _was rejecting her_. All because he still hadn't given up on it, that frivolous  _illusion_  of his. A frivolous illusion..  _they.._  once shared.

...

The two of them, always climbing a mountain of hardships together, had finally reached a point where they could behold the many shapes making their small world in the farm. Down there were the things they had pulled through by holding firmly onto each other's hand, as well as the things they would one day have to leave behind them  _—_ because looking up, there was still much ground to climb. More challenges were awaiting, but with a tailwind blowing favorably under their feet there was nothing they could not achieve.

Jack had always been the one pushing them to keep going up, because her brother was dead-sure;  _"There's gotta be.. On the other side of that mountain, something better's gotta be there."_

But as they kept climbing, as they conquered higher and higher barriers.. Jackie met a barrier she could not overcome.. It was a barrier that would follow her like a shadow for the rest of her journey.

To still be able to hear those everyday voices around her  _—breezes, carrying all colors of vivid emotion—_  yet unable to share that warmth anymore.. it was a curse that had sentenced Jackie to a horrible world. Imprisoned in her mind with herself and no one else, little by little, the radius within from which she could sense things around her began to shrink, alienating her. It was not long before she started to lose weight,  _withering_ , like a flower in the dark, dying without its sun.

The tailwind that had been helping them climb  _—Jack's resolution to see it through to the end—_  suddenly carried too much fierceness for the flower's sick petals. Despite hurting from that sickness Jackie had never let go of her brother's arm, she still wanted to try and believe in his dream as much as he did; That beyond the rumbling clouds shrouding the mountain peak, an open sky could be waiting to heal even a sick flower like her.

_An escape, an adventure, an accidental meeting.. a blooming friendship, a destined love, a warm family.. a sun._

Dreams born from dreams, till  _that_  day came...

The day their father suddenly started disappearing from home and every responsibility came crashing down on Jack's unready nine year old shoulders, like a vengeful headwind.

_Caught in-between two fierce winds, one by one, the flower's sick petals were shedding._

The torrent that befell them was violent, merciless and denying. It would have been a lot easier and less painful to just let go of that dream, but to Jackie's dismay her brother refused to give up and go along with that wind's bidding _._  Harsh trials were showering them one after the other, but Jack's chipped nails kept sinking higher and higher in the cracks, not for a moment allowing his dream to be crushed under the burdens a deserter father shoved on him over a night's whim.

_Reality, however, was much more brutal._

No matter what he would do, no matter how hard he'd try to close the gaping wound his father had left behind..  _It was all for naught..._

...He had already realized it, how that mountain peak was slipping farther and farther away from him..  _How he was losing sight of it..._

Forsaken, betrayed, powerless, Jack's endeavor was now just climbing a mountain of bitterness. But as he spent every second of his days grinding teeth, cursing, howling and denying the reality that his father had abandoned them, consumed by bitterness, Jack was never able to look beside him.

Torn, Jackie watched her brother fade in the distance, never realizing his sister's hand had been severed by a dream that turned out to be an illusion, the winds now drifting her to a faraway place that was neither the farm, nor the other side of the mountain...

...

_"I never asked for those dreams."_

_._

 

.

She was slowly getting into the mood, yet a passing skepticism had her lids batting, kind of surprised how almost nothing was attempting to thwart her second raid. He was not making things hard for her this time around. In fact, it was  _suspiciously_ too easy. She could have sworn she would have to suppress another mutiny before getting down to his face, the kind of increasing resistance one met when trying to squeeze a stiff spring, because that's how trying to get intimate with her brother had been like in the beginning.

_Their bed was quiet..._

A lack of stir was the exact opposite of what Jackie had planned, but strangely enough, when Jack's fingers started to slide off her shoulders in a sinking manner that was least to say _—_   _particular_ , she couldn't help but feel that a hint at submissiveness was rolling out a red carpet for her...  _A shy letter of invitation maybe?_

 _"..." Jackie wasn't going to lie;_ Offer her such an open buffet and she was going to parade on it without a second guess, that is to say,  _if_  she were that easy to convince.

After all, before a traitor, this was  _a rogue_  she was dealing with; Laying out a tempting carpet for her to gullibly step on, only to swiftly pull it right under her feet and overturn her _—_  this ruse sounded alarmingly something like her brother would do. One could never afford relaxing too much around Jack, naivety was spelling for regret. For that contingency alone she was going to examine his red carpet with one big grain of salt on her tiptoes.

Though as Jackie's tiptoes warily touched that carpet a bolt of hindsight crossed her empty ideas, all of a sudden predisposing her eyes a bit wide.

_"..." Was it really necessary to be cautious?_

She was already aware of his game at work, wasn't she? With her reflex sensors polished and on the ready to retaliate if he tried anything funny, why not enjoy this and beat him in his own game instead? Jack had always been a step ahead of her, every time walking out of the ring with a victorious fist signalling the bell, while Jackie would be still whipping around herself, ever dumbstruck in figuring where the anvil on her head fell from.

She had enough coming second place, she had enough being cautious of his wits even in a situation where she had the upper hand, she had enough being on the defense. Tonight was all about going on the offensive, tonight she'd plan  _two_  steps ahead of him.

_"..." Well then.. if he wasn't going to resist, Jackie would gladly help herself to a few more appetizers. She was raring to go._

Her skin, sensitive to cold, relished those small wiggling adjustments, aiming for a warmer and comfier accommodation atop her body pillow. Unlike before Jackie could relax her muscles and feel her modest mounds knead like soft dough pillows atop the hardness of her brother's chest, melting with such an embarrassing ease that Jackie's shoulders shuddered a bit as she nestled rather sheepishly under her brother's chin.

That uncushioned hard feeling between their chests was beyond doubt the tardy growth of Jackie's feminine qualities nodding to her; Fourteen years old, Jackie was still an A-cup, hardly more gifted than a board. She was already aware how her measurements were a laughing joke, but Jackie wasn't really feeling that extreme self-consciousness right now.  _It was her brother, he wasn't going to criticize her._

With that assurance in the back of her mind Jackie allowed a small fretful shiver to set sail on her back and reverberate all the way down to her slightly arched hips, discovering a mix of anxiety, embarrassment and excitement upon first time experiencing what it was like to press her budding breasts on a boy. It was quite the stupid fuzzy feeling, it was making her  _think_  stupid and fuzzy as she climbed up to smother him with a drizzle of kisses, showing his stubborn turned cheek a world of gratitude for being her assurance. How all those intimate touches would feel once they'd take their clothes off was still an intangible sensation soaring beyond the roof of her already wild imagination.

_"..." Asides from trying to dodge her mouth like his life depended on it, he didn't seem to be trying to pull something big on her._

Thinking back, it was a mystery to her why the old folk would always ramble about the calm  _before_  the coming storm. While the prism she'd view things through was indeed one with an affinity for clouds, Jackie couldn't help but question why those people would never try to read that saying backwards. If there would always be a calm before a storm, like they said, then that had to mean there'd be a calm  _after_  a storm as well. It was only natural to see the calm and the storm as a cycle, one much like sun and rain. The calm ocean on their bed right now was the living example shaming such half-baked sayings. From her point of view Jackie had navigated through rough seas, but beyond the storm, a rewarding calm awaited her.

_"..." The only question was how to make that turned cheek come around._

Intimacy may be all about forcing yourself on your partner, it was the only way to get what you wanted, but what if this calm ocean was in fact a great opportunity to produce something different? Truth be told Jackie would rather not treat her little brother the same inhumane way Bobby Joe was treating Rose next room. Jack may be a traitor who had forsaken their days together, but Jackie still treasured those times dearly. Even biting his tongue kind of weighed on her, but that was only to make him obedient. She was more than willing to help him mend that nasty bite, but he was giving her the cold cheek.

_"..." The stubborn idiot._

If he could only see how her mind had immersed in a forgiving sea of warm photo-slides as she moved her lips on his peachy cheekbone, caringly attaching stickers of their childhood left and right, next to his nose, under his eye, close to his ear..  _He'd understand_. Sadly though, the issue with stickers was, try to attach them too many times and the glue was going to wear out. Likewise, Jackie felt her stickers running short on glue after a while, needing a good refill.. from his mouth.. for real this time...

Feeling the tips of parched lips tracing down along his jaw Jack's heart gave an arrhythmic pound, his very lungs were trying to reject an arctic cold through disjointed breaths that would only dare escape from his nose.  _He felt like his heartbeat was about to expire._  His adam's apple discreetly bobbed as he gambled on switching cheeks, not hoping for the movement to go unnoticed under the radar,  _but to just go unpunished._

Amongst the many disquieting alarms going off, the most dangerous one was warning that  _Jackie was reacting very aggressively to challenging movements,_  so if possible he wanted to at least try and avoid that. Whenever she'd feel him struggling, opposing her, she'd retaliate with twice the ferocity, like she needed to fasten her grip on him, almost as if his sister desperately wanted to be in—...

Suddenly listening to  _waves brushing the shore_ , Jack's lips parted so sullenly, "...This isn't the same..."

_"..." Jackie had stilled above her brother's turned cheek._

She was reflecting both on what he said, as well on the sea she had assumed to be finally hers, and had turned out to be yet another illusion. What she had tamed was but a deceitful surface, because below the surface, the sea roiled ever restlessly.

_..._

_..._

_..._

_..._

The 1st of summer.

Being an early bird Jackie was about to wear her sticky-strap shoes to go collect the eggs from the chicken coop and make a good example for her father, but as she slipped her right foot inside the shoe, she flinched, her toes meeting something crunchy at the deep end that was never there before. A startled reflex jerked her foot out of the shoe, she didn't need to know what it was, something was inside her shoe and that was enough for her. When it finally crawled out from the hole...

_Jackie bugged her eyes like she never had before._

She already knew her nine year old brother was capable for a lot of great things, yet each and every past prank of his had easily been put to shame.. by planting a  _stag beetle_  in her shoe.  _One with big pincers at that._

She hunted him to the ends of the earth that morning, the  _real_  early bird who would wake up before dawn, full of fresh ideas. A wild goose-chase began, through prairies, forests and rivers, lasting nearly an hour as Jackie relentlessly hunted her brother across the lands to pass divine judgement on him.

"Are you kidding me!? It didn't even  _pinch_  you!"

Near the seaside she eventually caught up to him, Jack had been caught with his pants down when his feet started sinking in the sand, first time being in the beach, but Jackie had no interest in her soft footing. Her target was just ahead, rooted and staggered.

She leapt, grabbed him from behind, they rolled together on a vast cushion of sand. A sandstorm quickly brew in the beach from the shooting limbs, wrestling each other for supremacy, but Jackie had justice on her side.

"I won't do it again! I won't do it  _—_ I swear!"

He'd immediately throw in the towel when it suited him,  _like always_ , since Jackie was already on top of him and had cuffed his arms. After a while he was only murmuring to himself, realizing his sister was too mad at him to even fumble for words.

"..sorry.." He guiltily mumbled from a turned cheek, ready to tear up.

_"..." She didn't want it, his 'sorry'._

He was keen on testing her patience every day with his tricks, like having an abusive father at home wasn't enough on her plate. Studying her brother's subdued expression, aware of his misdeed, the way he was lying vulnerable on the sand as if the sea had washed him out... it was the first time an eerie thought swell in her gaze.

_They were far away from home._

She didn't know why that insuring thought occurred, but it did.

_He couldn't run away to hide in their mom's skirt._

She didn't know why those insuring thoughts... were so  _pleasing_  to the eye.

Right here, right now, in a faraway beach, alone with him...

_Jackie was in control of her life._

He was not paying attention to her, never noticing how she was climbing down, compelled to harvest the fruits that came with obtained control.  _But in what manner was she going to harvest her trophy?_

"It's.. rustling..?" Jack mentioned after a blink, sticking his ear closer to the sand layer. "Like.. windy grass."

Jackie's lashing lids carried a mix of distrust and annoyance. The morning sky was still full of clouds,  _putting the season's name into strong question_ , but it was neither windy, nor there was grass around.  _He was making excuses to try and save his hide again._

"You can't listen to it from there!"

"—!?"

"Listen..!"

So easily his fingers had swum through her wisps to reach her crown, so easily he had pulled her down to listen with him—

_A velvet rustling, an uncanny sound..._

_..Like windy grass, millions of tiny particles, soughing back and forth.._

_...somewhere else_ _.. beneath the earth.._

_...the voice of the ocean_ _..._

_...whispering a tale..._

_...Half-lidded eyes, bound by a soothing spell, a warmth unknown to them pouring inside..._

_...so easily, an untamed sea...had tamed her heart._

.

.


	10. Chapter 10

For the first time after ten years, because of a wild goose-chase that had led her to stray from home, Jackie had accidentally discovered how a world different from the one she had known existed behind her buzzing screen. This world was called  _tranquility._

All those domestic noises that were plaguing her mind were being carried away by the tide, cleansing her soul of all that was tormenting her. The waves caressing the shore, a therapeutic lull, so pure and outlandish, like a miraculous remedy. Her mind, always tuned to a channel of buzzing color bars, fading to pure white... Jackie was switching channels, putting up no resistance as this new white world of tranquility consumed her. She had woken up not long ago, yet was getting very sleepy all of a sudden, like a different kind of nap was knocking her door.

Feeling her lids heavy, Jackie let them come together, but they only got so close. An unknown signal,  _a third channel_ , suddenly interfered with her white channel. It was making a different kind of noise, not a high-pitched buzzing. Rather, whenever the image interfered, for split seconds, it came with a mysterious haze.

_Piercing black strands, hovering above relaxed brows, like grass blades, flowing as if they were listening to the rhythm of a mute breeze._

_Resting lids, so peaceful, a faint smile she had never seen, treasuring a secret._

Ever tirelessly, ever softly, the waves whispered of an enigma...

...they whispered of a sea, named Jack.

 

.

.

Jackie..

..was a picky eater.

That wasn't a secret charm to be proud for. She was too inflexible in her standards and that alone made it all harder to adapt to situations. Sometimes it was becoming impossible to cope even if the environment she had to live in was already familiar, or  _should_  feel familiar anyways. She had quickly come to learn how bad it was,  _being inflexible_ , or the worse part,  _being too inflexible to stop being inflexible_. It was like drawing the short end of the stick before she actually got to choose; a predetermined, unlucky draw. It was because of that unlucky draw that for ten years Jackie had been struggling to learn how to survive in a very inhospitable world.

For instance, both Jackie and her family were aware that her ears were keen, sensitive to sound, but what did that really mean?

"Uh? Girl can hear better, what about it?"

"That's a good thing though, isn't it?"

"She sure can't hear her own snores..."

"—JACK!"

"..."

...Though could someone with a normal pair of ears really say they could understand what sensitive hearing meant? Because Jackie was almost certain; If they did have her ears, all those people praising or teasing her would agree that such ears were arguably one's worst enemy. Jackie's ears were a nuisance and that went long way back before she lost her voice.

_It wasn't just about hearing well._

Jackie's ear was able to pick up a needle dropping and ringing even somewhere in another room's floor. That was  _not_  normal.

To go beyond, other low sounds, like whispering threats, indistinct mutterings, secrets revealed in sleep-talking, they were not harder than a needle to catch. It was frightening how those barely audible sounds that only she could hear were actually rippling so deep, maybe not in her ears, but in her troubled mind as she tossed and turned in her bed at night, they did. Even if the house happened to be quiet, allowing her a few hours of respite, Jackie would be just too afraid to trust that quiet. She was afraid that as soon as she'd relax her lids, like always, something was going to ambush her.

A yell that'd kill quiet on short notice, slaps, cries, belt whips, things shattering to pieces —sudden escalations of all kinds that would always and without fail startle Jackie to next day. In the end the only nights she could truly trust quiet and sleep where the nights her father would not be home. Even so, Bobby Joe was just the icing on the cake, more of an unpleasant presence inside the house, not so much the root of the problem itself.

The symptoms of her abnormal hearing were always there, haunting her. However they finally assumed an insufferable form when one day Bobby Joe brought an old TV in, just to find a distraction and kill a few hours on the days he didn't feel like working. Jackie couldn't stand being anywhere near that thing. Lowering the volume wouldn't do the trick and as amusing it was to everyone but her,  _neither did turning off the TV._

What was happening was not that easy to explain even to herself. All she knew was, while plugged, the box was giving off an eerie and shrill static buzzing that'd bring her eardrums on the verge of suicide.

Needles dropping on the floor were one thing, but hearing an actual high-pitched buzzing that even the deafest of mules should be able to pick up, but apparently didn't? She was gradually being driven to a corner after observing and confirming that indeed no one else seemed afflicted by that sound. Her golden opportunity to properly explain her situation without moving worrying suspicions arrived on a morning Bobby Joe was in bed with a fever and Rose there to tend to his dying-like groans.

Jack had grown fond of that TV himself, whenever it was free he'd go watch his fishing channel, ever amazed by how easy it apparently was to reel a fish in. Jack was not Bobby Joe, he was quick-tempered but not unapproachable, so Jackie nagged and nagged until her request was satisfied. There was only so much back and forth arm-shaking and constant complaining a brother could take from a sister. Already full before the time for breakfast Jack yelled at her to shut up, pulled the plug for the hell of it, and Jackie could finally let her ears breathe. She talked to him, only to discover what she was afraid to discover.

"Really? I don't hear a thing."

"...!"

_That did not bode well for Jackie._

It was a small village, they were even living on a remote mountain side, yet the rumors somehow always came full circle. Jackie had to resolve this issue before it turned into a real can of worms. She had to go to the doctor and get proper answers, and since she had already confided her problem to someone, she dragged him along for insurance. Jackie knew well that she may be withdrawn and a bit eccentric, but she wasn't crazy.

After a weird test called an 'audiogram' the air of relief she sighed was worth the entire weight under her feet. The clinic's doctor said there was nothing wrong with her, on the contrary, he kept an impressed face about it. He explained that 'hyperacousis' wasn't an illness and that being able to detect sounds others couldn't was in itself a rare charisma.

"Wait, that means she can hear the dog whistle too right?"

Ironically enough, a stupid question had caught science with an unprepared expression.

Jackie almost dropped her jaw staring at the doctor clearing his throat and then readjusting his glasses.  _He was dodging that!?_

Anyway, the doctor did offer her an immediate solution.  _Earplugs,_  and Jackie suddenly found herself sweatingly staring at two tiny cylindrical foam pieces like they were the birthday gift she had been waiting all her life for. She thought about it, really hard. Earplugs would help a great deal with the buzzing, but especially with her night problem. Yet...  _she was hesitating._ Getting rid of her problems with earplugs... It was like admitting defeat... but to whom...?

Her ears?

The TV?

Her father?

...

_...Her inability to adapt?_

In the end...

_..._

"You sure you don't need them?"

Jack turned with an unconvinced wink, arms folded behind his head as they left. He could have sworn Jackie was going to buy those things. Seconds passed before she shook her head, in truth to shake off the doubts, unconvinced herself. She couldn't explain it, the feeling that prevented her from doing something she wanted, because something more important stood on top of it.

"Heh."

_...Why did he knock her shoulder?..._

"You're a tough nut."

But seeing her brother smirk at her with approval, she felt that whatever self-destructive force it was that had stopped her from doing what would make her life easier, had earned her something that surpassed simple praise.

_Acknowledgment._

_..._

_However that day, Jack and Jackie would learn what went by the saying 'one could never know what life had in store.'_

_..._

As the siblings were about to follow the mountain trail back home something unprecedented happened.

"Hey you two! Wait up!"

A girl with short auburn hair collected in a messy half-bun waved at them, behind her standing a few more kids. She looked to be the leader of that gang.

"You're Jack and Jackie right?"

The siblings slowly exchanged regrettable stares, social awkwardness already sinking their expressions.

"Uh, y-yeah?" Jack bit the bullet, no way was Jackie going to crack her lips for someone she didn't know, hell it was hard for him.

"We're two people short for hide and seek! Care to join?"

"Hide...and...seek..?" Jack repeated in a daze, turning to Jackie who quickly flailed her arms like telling him not to ask her.

_They weren't really sure about the idea... Their father had ordered them to steer clear of the village because he didn't want trouble._

_But... right there... were kids..._

_...and they were also kids..._

_For nine years they had only known one another and no one else..._

_They had no friends... but they hadn't chosen to be outsiders..._

_Was it really fair to pass on this opportunity?_

Jack had been staring nowhere but at his feet before he decided to give it another go... but the moment he looked up he was taken by surprise, met by the anticipation swimming in Jackie's eyes. She had also been reflecting on the situation, but now she looked even more at a loss. Knowing her she probably wanted to tag along, but was afraid to come out of her shell and possibly regret it.

He clenched a fist, meeting her uncertainty with a smile, the promise he had made to her.

"Think this might be the other side of the mountain?"

The remnants of xenophobic eyes gasped at his words.

_An escape, an adventure, an accidental meeting.. a blooming friendship, a destined love, a warm family.. a sun._

_Could this be... the beginning of it?_

_._

_._


	11. Chapter 11

.

.

Forget about awkward, introductions were  _tense_.

Before they knew Jack and Jackie had lined up next to each other like two privates about to report to a sergeant, the same thought playing over and over in their heads,  _"We're so bad at this—we're so bad at this—we're so bad at this..!"_

They were stiffer than rocks, sweating bullets wasn't making it any less obvious, but that unvarnished honesty and purity of character was even more reason she wanted them to join. The girl who had called out to them stopped giggling on her chin. Just like she thought, _those two were really interesting._

"I'm Norah." She began by gesturing to herself.

The two siblings immediately nodded, inwardly clenching a confident fist they somehow understood the common tongue.

 _"Pft!"_  A snort poured from Norah's back.

Jack and Jackie's nods had panned out a bit steep and instead gave the impression they were respectfully bowing to her.

"H-Hey come on now.." Her shoulders drooped from the neck slap, "No need to be so uptight, I may be the older one here, but keep that up and those guys will start calling me big-sis again."

The siblings were mesmerized by that girl's heart-warming patience. Even though their pathetic social skills had put her in an awkward spot she was smiling at them ever welcomingly. Had that been Bobby Joe and had they made a blunder in front of his guests he'd have already grabbed them by the scruff. This was like a different earth altogether.

Realizing so Jack glanced towards Jackie who quickly received his mind.

_"It's alright. I think we should stop being at attention."_

_She nodded in agreement._

They resigned to more casual postures, with Jack leaning on his waist and Jackie tying hands behind her back.

With formalities out of the way Norah could tell a few quick things about them. Jack was probably easygoing yet not gullible enough to abandon guarded expressions, while his sister was quite the introverted type, she wouldn't lift eyes from her feet. Still, that was much better than before, Norah thought, nodding a couple of times at how they were not afraid to let their true feelings show. She didn't bring them here to be judged after all, she didn't want them to worry about appearances either.

"Now then." One step to the side revealed more faces behind Norah, in fact, four more faces.

_"...Oh boy..." A boot lazily covering an ant hole with gravel immediately caught Jack's attention._

So far Norah seemed like a good person, but were the others going to be as friendly?  _That kid in particular didn't seem like a huge fan of the idea._

Norah had already guessed it, but she had to start by addressing the elephant first.

"The guy who thinks he's burying ants over there is Andrew. His grandparents want him to take over the poultry farm one day but as you can see he's not too wild about it."

"H-Hey." Jack greeted him, half-raising a gesture.

The curly blonde shrugged a glance in return, more interested to plug that hole.

_"...ouch..." Jack wasn't sure about that poultry farm either, that kid was a natural at clipping wings._

"U-Umm.." Norah noticed they were likely getting off on the wrong foot, maybe she should have picked an easier candidate after all.

Just as she began scouting more carefully amongst her companions to see where it'd be easier to kindle a fire, a small volunteer pulled her blouse.

Norah rejoiced, a pair of big round blue eyes were intensely asking her from below, rushing with the speed of the skies.

"Hehe, this cute little doll is Sarah, she's my cousin and loves helping at the bakery." She patted the small head sporting long brown pigtails and the girl flew to cloud nine, "Well, she can only bake cookies right now, but one day she'll make the best cakes you can eat. Right lil' cuz'?"

"HIYAAAA~!"

"—!" Jackie froze mid-way shaking her arm.

_Holy cheesecakes... For such a cute little doll she sure had huge batteries packed on her back, Jackie thought she could learn a lesson or two from Zappy._

Quite unsurprisingly a stiff pout extended towards Jackie's ear,  _"Wanna trade with me?"_

She rolled a peek at the offish kid who had been burying ants ever since, then Jackie rolled her pupils straight again.  _Zappy was just fine with her._

"Then we have..." Norah showed them the rear line.

"Heya!" A boy in blue overalls wearing a straw-hat grinned.

"N-Nice to meet you!" As the girl with the butter-colored waterfall braids bowed a bit clumsily.

"Scott is shooting to be a farmer like his dad and works at the ranch while Jessica is currently growing her own flower bed to decorate her mom's flower shop."

"..."

"..."

Jack and Jackie were speechless. Right there were the people they wanted to marry.

_"Hmm..? Love on first sight?" Norah grinned rascally at the overwhelmed siblings._

_Drilling the ground with those shaking stares wasn't going to help that sunburn on their faces._

Well, she was sure they'd eventually get to know each other better, but right now Norah had a job to do.

"There's still someone I want you to meet."

That popped their bubbles. They looked bewildered, a second ago certain everyone had been accounted for.

Norah looked around to make sure before whispering behind her hand.

"...See, our friend is a bit paper-thin to stares, so try to take it easy on him, okay?"

 _"...'A bit' she says..."_  Andrew muttered to himself, colored a tad amused, but Norah quickly hammered him with a disallowing look, "Whatever.." His eye rolled up.

"You can come out now! Jack and Jackie wanna meet you!"

"...?"

"...?"

...So she said... but why was she talking to a pine tree?

Wait... Something was protruding... behind that tree... Half a face...?

"...—!?" Jackie was startled by what she saw.  _What in the world...!?_

Norah's arm kept calling it to come closer and with very wary shuffling steps it did cover a distance, but that was as far as it'd dare.

"...and there you have him!" Norah showed her mysterious friend,

"..." and Jack blinked so wide like his eyes were snapping a picture of what he was seeing.

"I know he looks a bit odd, but that's only because—..."

_"..." Words were becoming deaf for Jack._

_Green skin—Blink_

_Turtle shell—Blink_

_Pointy ears—Blink_

_Duck beak—Blink_

_Dish on its head—Blink_

"Anyways, that's the story with Kappa." Norah finished and then turned to Jack and Jackie again, "I hope you two can get along with—"

 **"IT'S A KAPPA!"**  Jack erupted with absurd excitement.

 **"—?!"** Taking hold of the creature's hands into his before anyone knew it.

For Kappa someone getting hold of him was the same as touching a bare wire,  _an electrocution._

"Where did you come from!? Do you really live in a river!? Why do you like cucumbers?"

"HEY!" Norah growled at Jack while her cousin struggled to contain chortling tears.

_"W-What is wrong with this person!? Is he possessed...!?" Kappa was having a panic attack._

He kept whipping around for a chance to escape, but Jack couldn't wait any longer. Sure he had a lot more questions for this Kappa, but if he missed this opportunity now he'd likely never get another one. Kappas were really rare after all, he had to get down to the point right now,  _no matter how embarrassing it would sound..._  "You're...  _magic..._ right?"

_"E-Eh!?" Kappa jerked straight when Jack squeezed and balled their hands._

_That person looked like he was praying for a yes, but his prayer had only reached Kappa's sweat sprinklers._

"Can you do magic things like...  _grant a wish_?"

"..." Kappa stilled and blinked, but only managed to get more puzzled,  _"Kappas don't grant wishes though...?"_

"—Gek!" Jack bit down hard on his tongue when a fierce blow almost split his head in two.

Norah karate chopped him.

"Didn't you listen to a thing I just said? Sheesh." She scolded him for his dense ears, "Kappa feels insecure when walking in crowds so that's why he's wearing a costume."

Jack had still not recovered when he suddenly stopped rubbing his head, "...a costume?"

"Yeah, look." Norah pointed at Kappa's neck.

 _"...A zipper?" Jack was confused._ "So you're.. not green?"

Kappa rapidly shook his head.

"B-But.. you have green eyes?"

Kappa nodded. Those were real.

"K..uhhh.." Jack was tearing up from his betrayed hopes.

"..." Kappa was crestfallen too. Even though it was a clear misunderstanding he felt at fault. It was the first time someone actually had expectations of him, so maybe he was supposed to speak a word or two as compensation. He looked scary at first, but that boy called Jack was actually a nice person who believed in Kappas. "...I-I'm s-s-s-s—!"

But before Kappa could overcome his stuttering Jack shot a finger at him,

"IMPOSTER!"

"UGH!" Kappa felt a bolt shooting through his chest.

"FRAUD!"

"GAH...!" His knees buckled.

Jack hated being mean, but with the next one he'd land the finishing blow.

"CONMAN!"

Kappa was out cold, mouth foaming, eyes swirling.

"Nice." Andrew commended, never looking.

"Whoa!" Scott whipped towards Norah, "That was 2 out of 2 right!?"

"..." But Norah was just smirking with jitters on her brows,  _what the hell just happened?_

"It was 3 out of 3." Andrew corrected, "Nobody's ever called Kappa 'conman' before."

...Weird remarks were coming and going all of a sudden and Jack was hanging with a question.

"What are you guys talking about?"

"Oh,  _'that'_..?" Scott laughed to himself, "We were just counting how many you got right."

"How many.. of what?" Being clueless was starting to grow bags under his eyes.

"Hits on target." Andrew finally turned around, "Taboo words that send Kappa keeling over."

"Meh, beginner's luck if you ask me." Sarah's fingers brushed off the score as a fluke.

"I wonder if Kappa's going to be okay though?" Jessica remarked after studying how Kappa was lying down.

"A kick in the butt for sure." Andrew's brow climbed at Kappa's particular lying pose.

"Hey Jack." Scott's smile turned at the ace, "You're watching that TV show right? Is that how you know all these things about Kappa?"

"..." Jack was dumbstruck, he blinked twice, "..you mean.. Natsume's book of friends?"

Scott's smile widened to a grin.

Jack really didn't know what to say, he never thought there'd be other kids familiar with his favorite show. The TV was broadcasting goofy cartoons most of the time, but that show felt different.

"W-well..." Jack scratched his cheek, slightly embarrassed, "..It's a good show, I think."

_"...!" Kappa suddenly came to._

"Are you serious?" Sarah split her sides laughing, "Come on! Who's gonna sit and watch that kind of depressing thing?"

"Put a sock in it." Andrew glanced the pristine doll sideways, "I'm watching that show too."

At first Sarah blinked wide from a boasting figure, but after digesting Andrew's shameless confession she just crossed her arms with a smug undertone, "Hmph. Only loners like you would watch a show about a loner."

Jack didn't mean to butt in, but...

"You know, for someone making fun of this show you sure know an awful lot about it."

"—u-ugh..!" Sarah shrank like an actual doll, suddenly a lot of people were piercing her with their eyes, "I only w-watched it once b-by accident, y-you know? By accident..!"

"Sarah come on, you don't have to hide it, I watch it too every now and then." Scott looked at Jessica's surprise, "I mean, it's airing at a convenient hour, kinda fits with my breaks at the ranch."

"..Sure you did.." Jack leered.

Scott lost him there a bit, what did he mean by that? Wait, where was he even looking at?

...

_"...Uh-oh..." was the single thought that crossed everyone's mind,_

_w_ _atching the sparks of rivalry intensify between Jack and Sarah._

Jack didn't like Sarah because for such a cheerful and cute little doll she was actually sitting on a high and mighty pedestal, only caring for the ideal image others had of her, while Sarah didn't like Jack because he'd not think twice about getting people off their pedestals, he just couldn't mind his own damn business and that was getting under her skin.

"...?"

And while Norah didn't know why, another rivalry was being born, not from the epicenter of arguments, but from the sidelines.

Jackie was staring at Kappa who just couldn't escape her detecting eyes. Kappa wasn't just your run-of-the-mill shy kid, he had barely talked at all, just like Jackie. It was natural that inside that costume Jackie could sense a doppelganger. Her brother had called Kappa an imposter, a fraud and a conman, but he just had no idea...  _how right he was._

_Norah's lip drew a smile._

_"...she's a smart girl, your sister."_

_._

_._


	12. Chapter 12

.

.

The glares were finally turning away from each other, thank god this didn't take a turn for the worse. A few steps away from the rest Norah had just let out a tiny cloud. Her hopelessness was not noticed, but she wished the troublemakers would catch her sighing one day, maybe then they'd get an idea what a constant worry it was to be in her guardian-like shoes. Perhaps she could just try sighing really hard, but then that'd probably sound like she was wheezing, wouldn't it? Sarah would surely snicker thinking she was out of breath, _'Big-sis, I think I saw a grey hair'_... again, surely with a pun related to her age, and then Norah would make an ineffective comeback like,  _"What!? No way! I just turned eleven!"_ Because her little cousin knew too well when to strike a low guard.

 _"...Oh wow."_  Norah was almost impressed with herself, she could peek into the future with relative ease nowadays. That relative ease kind of worried her.

Norah's bubbles tended to grow out of control sometimes, but she couldn't allow her mind drift for too long. She was responsible for all these kids after all, should anything happen to them while she wasn't looking she'd be held liable to their parents. She knew it was no use stressing over it every time they'd leave the village on a quest for thrill and adventure, but that was just how she was trying to be.  _Sleep with one eye open, always be on the lookout._

Speaking of the lookout, she thought it was about time to start taking in a broad view of the landscape that was laid out in front of her.

The location they had gathered at would be the usual meeting spot for hide and seek, a place they could enjoy their space without grown-ups sniffing around, since with the adults it was either getting chewed out or chased away for no good reason. The geezers were easily the worst, grumpy old mules rearing and neighing at them like they were rats carrying some deadly disease. It'd be the same old skit every time they'd get caught playing anywhere near some old man's property. As such, being the older and bigger rat of the gang, as well as their appointed leader, Norah's job was to find a place all rats could play together without upsetting the adults. It had to be an ideal spot, one that was both far from the strict eyes of the village, but at the same time not too close to the unfamiliar forest grounds.

She searched, searched, searched...

...and when she finally saw it, Norah was certain; If the saying 'two birds with one stone' was made for something, it was for the crossroads outside the village.

Unbeknownst to the rest Norah had also taken the liberty to pick this place out of a guessing suspicion. She couldn't recall Jack and Jackie ever setting foot in the village, maybe their parents had instructed them not to for some reason, but assuming that was the case, that meant if she wanted Jack and Jackie to get an opportunity to meet the other kids, that opportunity had to be as close to the forest as it could get.

Today Norah could finally nod to herself, tall and proud. It may have taken over two months for the plan  _—force the coincidence to happen—_  to pay off, but today was  _three_  birds with one stone. She breathed in deeply, welcoming the air of success.

_What a refreshing breeze that was._

The morning chill still lingered in the air, a great treat to wake up the lungs. The only place one could savor air that was even richer than that was where Norah had cast her eyes at, but sadly, that destination was off limits.

The northern path marked the beginning of the forest, while further up spread the mountain prairies surrounded by the mountain range, Jack and Jackie's home, followed by a steep uphill continuation of the forest towards the highest summit.

The west path lead to the clinic, south to the village, east was the docks. If one ever got to enjoy a mountain view of the village they'd see that the road south appeared like a thin line splitting old man Phil's vast cornfields, while either side of the northern path was tightly-knit with towering woods. The only remarkable detail standing out inside the thickness of pine trees was a lone wooden bridge sitting deep inside the narrow forest pass. A brook would be actively coursing the lower forest at all seasons, in a way safeguarding it with a watery trench that was forbidding beyond entry to the woods, as such the wobbly bridge over there was a necessity for anyone wishing to cross the forest.

It was Norah's lifelong ambition to one day discover where that mysterious brook came from. The closest she had gotten to its origins was a short waterfall on a mossy ledge, but the water was in fact pouring out from a hole nestled among the rocks of the ledge, an underground stream of some sort. It was pouring out quite fiercely, so that implied the brook's source had to be hiding somewhere really high up. It was just an inkling, but Norah liked to imagine it'd be a lake somewhere inside a mountain cavern. Even her dad wasn't sure, so it was worth tracking down that brook  _—_ _once she grew into an adult_ , per her dad's condition.

_"...Dang it!" She knocked her head._

Here she was, vowing not to drift, yet once again she had let it happen. If there was something that could make Norah worry leaps and bounds faster than the kids' mischiefs it was her own habit to space out. She had to keep an eye on them, you could never know what they were going to pull.

_..._

As expected, with new people around curiosity was attracting minds to one another...  _not very much in the way she had hoped though._  A phenomenon that was not included in her forecast was starting to cover the landscape, much to Norah's unspoken chagrin.

To her right: Sarah, Jackie and Jessica

To her left: Andrew, Jack and Scott

The phenomenon was called cliques,  _boys and girls,_ to be specific.

 _Norah was pinching her nose bridge, blood pressure rising "...That lot...I swear...took my eyes off of them for a sec and_ _—..._ _"_

But she wasn't as completely in the dark about it as she wished she could say she was... she knew the glares hadn't turned away by themselves, but she just didn't anticipate it to turn like this.  _Well, at the very least, she could stop worrying about being able to see the future with relative ease. Her powers of hindsight had failed her gloriously._

It all started when Andrew snuck behind Jack and gave him the buddy-slap on the back. Ever since Norah could remember Andrew had been wishing for a single thing in life, to muster the courage and stuff Sarah's big mouth with a big humble pie. Today was truly a day of joy apparently, since Andrew witnessed deliverance descend, maybe not from the heavens, but the high mountain Jack had descended from came pretty close. Fact of the matter was, in Jack, Andrew had found an invaluable ally, and he intended to keep it so. He wrapped an arm around his buddy's shoulder and the two of them marched onwards the sunset, so to speak.

As for Scott, someone who'd usually stay neutral on these matters, even for him this one was a no-brainer. He tried to tease Jack by asking if he was watching a kids' show, and not only did Jack take the question squarely, he also confessed he liked that kids' show. That was the moment Scott liked Jack. He was spunky, didn't chew his words, he had a breeze about him. It was always refreshing to meet people who were wearing their heart on a sleeve..  _and besides, Scott was watching that show too, but he had missed a few episodes. It was a good opportunity to catch up._

That was the point Norah sighed and began spacing out.

On the other side of affairs Sarah was actually spited by Jack's lack of tact and had rallied the other two girls for moral support. Jessica because she'd always smile and nod while listening to her woes, Jackie because she was an invaluable source of information about her new foe, the brat who had humiliated her in front of her friends and was now even conspiring with the ant bully.

_"That Jack rookie kid... I'll get him... that... that... that Jack-ass..!" Her pigtails shuddered, he was even forcing her to swear now._

A dreadful chill ran down Norah's spine and she wasn't even the target of the daggers in Sarah's glare.

_Unfortunately for Jack, Sarah was the type to hold grudges. Really, really -deep- grudges. She was probably already planning how to bring him down to size._

Her cousin may be an adorable little doll on the outside, but the same could not be said about her bite.  _It was neither small, nor cute._  She was the last person anyone would want to get on the bad side, Norah included. Just flying ideas on what she could do to avenge her pride was making Norah feel like her blouse was too tight around her neck.

_Damn, she was fretting over the small stuff again._

The bigger problem was the gang splitting in two sides. She had to fix that, but how? Bad blood was never an easy miracle to turn into water under the bridge...

Absorbed in reminiscing Norah's eyes were gazing nowhere in particular, till her lids suddenly moved and focus returned. It was one of the ant nests Andrew had been trying to bury, the ants were digging out of the dirt, slowly rolling away the tiny stones blocking the entrance. One ant couldn't do it alone, but once they banded together as a group, moving the obstacle was possible.  _Going as a team, it was possible._

_"...They've split in two but...is it really...that bad..?"_

Norah lifted her gaze at the two groups again, the face she was wearing still empty of decision.

She still couldn't tell whether two groups was a bad thing, because she didn't know if she had the right to demand for something better, for a very good reason... Those two groups,  _actually used to be three groups._  Scott and Jessica lived next to each other, they were close neighbors and close childhood friends. As such they'd usually show up together whenever the gang would meet up, but that's exactly where the problem lied. Scott and Jessica weren't doing anything wrong, the problem itself lied within Andrew and Sarah.

Those two weren't on good terms.

Living under his grandparents' roof and having to obey to old-fashioned rules Andrew was not entirely in the wrong for brooding over a life that was not the one he had signed up for. At the same time no one could say his grandparents were in the wrong either. They were already past their prime, they weren't going to stick around forever, they wanted to know the poultry farm would be in good hands once they were gone. It was unfortunate that Andrew's parents suddenly split one day, but things like that could happen.  _A young mother that was not mentally prepared to raise a child because she realized she still wanted to chase her dreams in the big city, a coward father that ran away because he lacked the commitment to stay back and provide for a motherless child._  For better or worse, Andrew was stuck with his paternal grandparents who'd make sure his upbringing would not turn him into an irresponsible person like his parents were.

Sarah's circumstances were a lot different _._  She was financially secured since her parents were running the bakery and could keep providing for her,  _spoiling her one could say_ , not to mention it was her wildest dream to take over the bakery one day, the same bakery she was already trying her hand at. She was a quick learner, the villagers were complimenting her cookies all the time, she was good at it, having her efforts acknowledged made her feel confident. Sarah fortunately had her parents backing her up and because of that she could shower in her dream, a life overflowing with colors of success.

Andrew's negativity on one hand, Sarah's positivity on the other, connect the two poles and you have a fully sparking, smoking,  _short-circuit_. The negative pole was envious how the positive pole had everything set for her in life, the positive pole kept rubbing the salt of superiority in the negative pole's face. Sarah was making fun of Andrew, calling him 'loser' and 'loner' amongst other names, and for that Andrew was hating her. Sarah was too spoiled to lend anyone her ear for a piece of advice, she wouldn't compromise being 'nicer' to Andrew just because the others were telling her to be. The only one she'd listen to was Norah and that's because she was like a big sister to her, but even then she'd comply half-heartedly being 'nicer' to him.

Things were still not that simple though, even strong impressions could deceive the eye, and Sarah was one for strong impressions.

_The truth was... Sarah was no less the loner Andrew was._

The only difference was that while Andrew did not even care to hide it, Sarah found her lack of friends utterly shameful to simply confess. Sometimes she'd go through hell and high water to convince them she had more friends back in the village, making up all sorts of stories because she was assuming none of them knew her well enough to know whether what she was saying was true or not. Unluckily for her, Norah knew, or rather, she could tell.

_If Norah was good at something, it was reading people._

Whenever Scott or Jessica would ask Sarah about her other friends in the village Norah could just see the confidence suddenly crumble from Sarah's eyes, for panic and guilt to take over. She'd be with her back against a wall, yet she'd still choose to keep lying because Andrew was there, watching her, his face telling her he was not buying any of her smooth talk. Like a cornered cat, the only thing Sarah could do was throw even more dust in their eyes. In the end her stories had so many glaring inconsistencies to them that Scott and Jessica would be just staring at each other even more confused than before.

Even so, Sarah couldn't hope for a better result. As long as it meant Andrew would keep biting his lip from frustration, she'd keep feeding his frustration all he wanted.

Many times had Norah considered asking Sarah why she was so dead-set on making up things just to frustrate Andrew, many times she had discovered second thoughts about prying. It wasn't like the rest of them had the right to judge someone for their mistakes, to force them to climb the podium of truth and justice. Everyone made mistakes, everyone had their own insecurities to deal with, insecurities which in turn could lead them to be insincere. Yet it was that insincerity that was also alienating people in the first place, making it harder to approach others in fear that a harmless conversation could always take an awry turn and guide them to a dead-end where they'd be left with no choice but to tell the truth.

Both Andrew and Sarah were fighting with insecurities, that much had become obvious to the naked eye. At the same time, despite their insecurities both Andrew and Sarah wanted to make friends, which was a good and promising step. It was to be expected that the most suitable candidates to be their friends would be the kids closest to their age, Scott and Jessica.

However, that's where matters had become a total mess.

Scott and Jessica were close to each other, not because they were close neighbors, but because they had always opened up to each other. Seeing two honest people together as a team, Andrew and Sarah, the lonely ones, couldn't muster the courage to approach them. They were kids the same age as them, but they weren't equals. While Scott and Jessica had gotten over their insecurities by laying their minds bare to each other, Andrew and Sarah were still hiding in their shells. One could find things like that even in stories, how the radiance of the braves was too much for the cowards, so much it paralyzed their feet. That was exactly what was happening with Andrew and Sarah; Just on their own, they could not find the courage to approach a team.

For years things had hardly moved forward, yet today Andrew and Sarah were finally turning over a new leaf, and it was all because of the newcomers.

While in the beginning Andrew and Jack couldn't find a good footing to warm up to each other, they'd later discover how they in fact had more things in common than they had presumed. Like their fondness for the same TV show, or their distaste for people who were pretending for the sake of impressions. Andrew had found the will to approach Jack because he realized he could relate to him, the barriers keeping him away were quickly shattered by the knowledge someone else was feeling the same way as him. Before he knew it Andrew was in a team of two, a team that could now even approach Scott, because Andrew was not going alone anymore. It was beyond words what confidence an additional number could give, but that's exactly what Andrew had needed. The same went for Sarah, who did not hesitate reaching out to Jackie out of an impulse to learn more about her enemy. With Jackie on her side, approaching Jessica was a piece of cake.

Two groups were not as bad as three groups. Andrew and Sarah were learning what taking the initiative meant, how to start a conversation without being the ones approached, but the ones approaching others. They looked enthusiastic about it, they were trying not to let out too much excitement, but they were excited... and Norah was happy to see them change for the better. They didn't have to talk about big things, it didn't have to be about guilty secrets or anything of the sort. Just talking to someone about  _anything_ , small or trivial as it may be, was a good thing. Little by little, they were going to open up.

Norah was happy, and yet...

While every kid was there having fun, she was there making sure every kid was able to have that fun. Sarah wasn't exaggerating when she'd call her big-sis, because that was the truth of it. She was like a big sister to them, she was friends with everyone, but at the same time she wasn't really close with someone. Her smile could get a bit lonely watching all these kids have fun, but.. It was still a smile, and that was more than enough a reward for Nora.

Besides, it wasn't as bad for her as it may seem, in fact.. _she did have someone.._ but that was her own guilty secret.

"Alright guys! Gather round!"

She marched in.

_Time for hide and seek!_

.

_._


	13. Chapter 13

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.

After letting her juniors mingle a bit in order to get acquainted with the new recruits Norah had requested all of them to start forming a circle. Wrapping up the first familiarities with a few girl-like giggles and boy-like shoulder taps they began gathering around as she said. Though it was a bit sad they were insisting to do so in the manner that wanted her eye to _tic_.

"Listen guys, I think we need to fix a few things."

With a dust-rising slide of her foot she swiftly assumed a wide stance while her arms crossed steadfast. This inner struggle necessitated squinting her eyes shut to calm...  _—Failed_

"Erk..!" The boys almost shit their pants when she snapped a pissed glare at them.

"Yipes..!" and swiftly cutting to the gleeful snickers coming from her right the girls almost peed on themselves.

Without even moving a muscle on her neck Norah had riddled everyone's confidence with so many holes it helped them realize how a juvenile bravado was as solid as swiss cheese.

_"..Blew her fuse again..!"_

Boys and girls alike swallowed hard at her ominously-emanating presence, inclined to keep in mind how a girl that was complementing an otherwise appealing sleeveless tie-front blouse with _shorts and hiker boots_  should under no circumstance be treated as lightly as just any girl. Step on her patience and that wild bun would start bouncing mad.

The boss had everyone's undivided attention. Finally, a mildly satisfied smile could soothe her lips.

"Now..." Norah humbled her chin, "Time for the rearrangements I was talking about."

"...?"

"Rear..r..  _—what..?"_

About everyone was sending climbed brows or confused shrugs to their adjacents.  _Was that even part of the game?_

"Jackie." She turned to the sister first.

" _—_?" and Jackie almost twitched upright at the summons.

Jackie may have never gone to school but she got the idea what being the first person picked by the teacher was probably like. Sucked to be  _that_  guy.

"Go swap with Jack." With a curt shake of her head Norah showed where she should be going.

"...?" She blinked at her before turning to the direction.

If Jackie was swapping with Jack that meant she was going to take his place between Andrew and Scott, but at the same time that would mean...

"NO WAY!" Jack and Sarah exclaimed an objection. "YOU WANT ME TO SIT NEXT TO  _THAT_!?"

_Seriously, what the hell!?_

"Oh?" Norah was impressed by their perfect sync. "Aren't you supposed to hurry and call  _jinx_  on the other after saying the same thing at the same time, twice even?"

Jack and Sarah were genuinely shocked, a damn big elephant was right there and they had only noticed.

 _"DAMMIT_ _—!_ _"_

 _"_ _—SHE'S RIGHT_ _!"_

They shot fingers at each other.

 **"JINX!"**  Calling it yet again in perfect sync. Teeth were gritting, the last one standing would be the winner,  **"JINX—JINX—JINX—!"**

 _"_ _—_ _JEEZ...!" Norah's head was hurting._

They were so dead-set not to lose to the other over a silly game of superstition, like two little rams butting heads over and over with no end to it.

"Alright, alright, it's a draw!" She signalled them to cease fire, _sighing,_  "Anyway, till we decide on ' _it'_  for the first round the jinxees are not allowed to say a word.  _Talk_  and the other guy owes you a punch on the arm. Are we good with that?"

"...!"

"...!"

"...well?" A not so patient finger was tapping on her forearm.

Jack and Sarah forced it down their throats and nodded but not without fidgeting a second later.

_"How did that saying go again? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?" Norah's sides were tingling as a sneaky smirk curled._

Her rules as the boss were very simple. Reward the good children, punish the troublemakers.  _Worked every time._

Jackie had arrived in front of Jack ready to take her new position between boys. A shoulder shrugged at him after watching the shudders speak for him.

" _Come on, putting a zip on it isn't that bad.."_

Like, she was doing it all the time.

_"This stinks!" Even Jackie was trying not to laugh._

Frustrated like no other time he steeled himself in a vicious march to go claim his spot next to the doll, he wasn't gonna give that hypocrite the pleasure of calling him a wuss.

"She's gonna do all she can to win, even  _cheating_." Andrew was leering knowingly at Sarah's outraged bent fists,  _too bad she wasn't allowed to talk, she'd sure let her tongue loose if she could,_  "Keep your eyes peeled man."

Jack was so focused on the task he hardly moved a chin.

"Haha, well, it's nice to have you here Jackie." He patted her stiff arm and Jackie was already shaking like a leaf from her first exchange with Scott,  _maybe her arm had felt too skinny to him?_

With a bashful twitch the feverish red across her cheeks was buried in the shadows of her wisps, "...T-Thank you..."

"Don't mention it, baker-girl over there likes selling more books to her customers than she does bread anyway." Andrew.. also welcomed her? In a strange way.. _kind of?_

"I  _heard_  that Andrew!" Norah scowled at the blonde, very moodily. There wasn't going to be a next warning.

Though it was Sarah that was actually clenching her jaw? Wait.. did he mean to  _slur_  Zappy with that?... Jackie didn't get the specifics of that feud, but from the few bits and pieces at girl talk she had learnt that Sarah and Andrew had been at odds for more than three years already.  _That was quite long, wasn't it?_

"Hehe well.." Scott was scratching the back of his head, Jackie's curiosity about those two was to be expected, "After a while you just get used to it, I guess?"

A shy smile peeped at his jovial grin.

Scott was a nice person, he knew how to make good use of reserved humor, she really wanted to get to know him better.

_The possibility of a whole new horizon was unfolding for Jackie._

It was a refreshing new horizon, since the only boy she had been spending time with was Jack, but with Jack the days were either hit or miss. There were mornings his eyes would fly open possessed by a ridiculous energy which was no joke; sometimes he'd be pulling her off the bed  _from the freaking leg_  to get her to go out and play, like the 'X' on a treasure map had been revealed to him in a dream. Then right the next day, getting her hopes up for a repeat of the other day's adventures, it was Jackie who would go shake him up on the bed...  _but he just wouldn't feel like it._  Not if she tried to pull him from the leg, not if she mounted his disinterested back to protest. His mood swings were so hard and frustrating to predict, there was no doubt he had taken that after their mom... _Blowing hot and cold._

_...Hot and cold..._

_...Hot and cold..._

_...Hot and cold..._

"U-Uh... Jackie? Are you alright?"

A delighted smile answered for her but Scott was searching left and right, it was summer and he could surely hear the rumbling of invisible clouds.

"Ha..haha..." He started scratching his cheek, he must have looked awkward and silly.

_She was murdering someone behind that smile, wasn't she?_

_..._

_[Back at the girls' team]_

Jack could smell his own left cheek slowly boil and frizzle from the death rays trying to pierce it. Even as things were he'd rather stare into the blinding sun and get his retina burnt to a crisp as well than take the bait and shoot back his own death rays. He was better than that hypocrite so he squeezed his fists, resolute like a rock. Soon.. very soon they were going to decide on 'it' and this stupid game of silence would be over. It was a terrible fact right now that patience had never been his strong suit, this was a damn trial for Jack. At this point only a single word existed that he had to keep repeating for comfort.

_"..soon..!"_

Seriously, hide and seek was so much more simple when it was only him and Jackie. They didn't have to dillydally deciding who was going to be 'it' because there were only two of them really. They'd usually start the game with Jackie being the seeker while he'd do the hiding, but regardless of the result  _—_ Jackie finding him or not _—_  they'd always take turns hiding and seeking so it was fun because no one was stuck being 'it' for failing to find the other.

It was a nuisance that there were actual rules down here, but that couldn't be helped.

_"...soon...soon..."_

_Mother of patience...!_

How much longer was it gonna take that _red-haired bandit captain_ to get it over with!? She was just standing there, fingers hooked on her hips, indecisively sizing up everyone over and over like she was looking for the candidate best suited for the job! _Pick SOMEONE already! It's just hide and seek!_  If she looked around one more time his head was gonna start spinning.

_"...!"_

_"...?"_

_"..."_

_"...WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?"_

She noticed him staring, blinked unawares, then continued looking around pretending she had never noticed being stared.

_"You're kidding! She's doing it on purpose!"_

"Um, Jack right?"

_"—!" A velvet voice tickled his ear and Jack's chest suddenly quaked from a pound going haywire._

What an idiot he was...! He wasn't alone with Sarah there, on his other side was...

 _"..Jessica...?" He cracked his eyeball to prevent it from blinking_ _—F_ _ailed._

"W-Wait..!" She flailed her arms when he was quick to march for distance, "You.. you don't have to feel like a stranger here."

_"...Really?" He shied over his shoulder, just a bit._

"Your sister told us a lot about you." Reservedly greeting him she caught up next to him, slightly bowing as a timid hand was raised close to her shoulder.

_"..." That was the cutest thing Jack had ever seen._

"Or should I say.. We managed to squeeze some words out of her.. about you.."

Jessica was soundlessly giggling, one of her arms reserved behind her back while the other was loosely hiding her lips.

_"...!" It couldn't be.. Jessica wanted to learn about him...!?_

"Umm.."

_Wait... What was she doing now!? Please don't let it be something cute again! His heart was already laying brutal siege on his sternum!_

She tucked a golden strand behind her ear, very slowly, very delicately, from a very detailed profile angle.

Light blue eyes like the sky itself, an angel's golden locks, a kind heart to bring it all together.  _A maiden sparkling with purity._

_"..." Screw this. He was going snatch her waiting hand from her ear and ask for it._

"But you know.. Maybe..."

_"Maybe what? Maybe go out?" He was a happy monkey, hanging and drooling._

"...Maybe you shouldn't pull her from the leg in the mornings?"

 _"Ah... That's right..."_  He clasped his hands together and nodded, they were exchanging vows already,  _"Maybe I shouldn't pull her leg in the mornn—eehhhhh **AAAAAA~H!?** "_

Jack's palm just barely got to slap the zip back on his mouth, he had almost shrieked like a damsel.

_H-o-l-y-s-h-i-t!_

That had sobered him up quicker than that time Bobby-Joe emptied a bucket of freezing water on him when he caught him sleeping on the job.

"Hmmmm...?" Jessica pouted, staring him up close quite intensely all of a sudden.

"...!" Jack was sweating bullets, his pupils fleeing left and right, but he wasn't gonna let go of his mouth.

"Sorry, I tried." She shrugged a shoulder but.. to whom?

"...!?" Jack couldn't believe in his eyes.

_"...Almost had him...!" Crossing her arms Sarah cursed him with a twitching glare before whipping the other way._

"I don't understand.." Jessica pondered high on a finger, "I mean, it always works with Scott and Andrew?"

_"...!" Screw it._

_That is_ _—_ _love on first sight. If even an angel was conspiring with the devil against him who knew how many others the devil had corrupted._

 _It was final._ _He wasn't trusting another person here._

 _—_ _Except the guys. The guys were great, like blood brothers. They'd never stoop so low as to join treacherous machinations like_ _—_

"What? He drags you out of bed from the leg?"

"That's just mean man.."

**_"JACKIE YOU JUDAS!"_ **

Jack was smiling to himself with blank eyes, the tears were running down like rivers. His only chance to blend in with other kids had been flushed down the toilet by  _—enter shocking beyond belief newsflash_ _—_ Jackie's BIG MOUTH! Of all the countless opportunities in ten years it had to be today that she remembered she could talk _—_  about the really embarrassing stuff at that!

_This wasn't real..._

_...Today wasn't supposed to go down this way._

_It was Sunday, his long-awaited day off from work. He was just gonna get up from bed around 7:30 a.m., watch some tv, go to the lake to try catching fish, his father would probably slap him at the neck a few times to remind him to whom he should be grateful for being allowed a day off... AND THAT WOULD BE IT. On Sundays he was free to kick back and do practically nothing, he was supposed to be like their lazy cow grazing on grass over the hill all day till the sun fell!_ _Sundays were supposed to go down uneventfully... "_ _UNEVENTFULLY!"_

_Why... Why the hell did he let himself get dragged around like a rag doll by Jackie today? Nothing would ever go well when Jackie was leading the way anyway! He'd have expected himself to at least know that by now!_

_Screw that TV._

_Screw Jackie and her ears._

_He was so getting that dog whistle when they were getting home._

"Something wrong newcomer?"

Footsteps were suddenly coming his way.

_"—...!" Jack hadn't even realized he was trying to weed his hair._

He dreaded shaking an eye as the tall shadow loomed over his figure.

"What's this? Feel like blowing your top already?"

 _"_ _—_ _Kuh..!" Jack's lip peeled a fang._

_The last thing he wanted right now was the Alpha wannabe playing top dog on him._

"...Oh my, how scary." She didn't even pretend to flinch, "I bet I'm already pushing up daises in there, huh?"  _rather, she leered a warning._

_"~Pst! Jack!"_

Jessica started shaking his shoulder to get his attention and she was going to do it forcibly if she had to, _this was for his own good._

She whispered in his ear, worried herself.

"Please don't stare at Norah like that, you're only going to make it worse!"

But Jack's eyes were only growing more bloodshot for every second she was taunting him with that leer.

"Listen..!"

Fastening the urgency on his shoulder Jessica shook him again realizing nothing was changing.

"You're right, Norah can be a little overwhelming sometimes, but trust me, she's always been a very fair person!"

_"Overwhelming my ass. She's what?.. Half a foot taller than me (even with the bun in)? Two years older probably? Big deal."_

"...Know this though, she doesn't take kindly to stubborn heads. Remember how she smacked your head back there?"

_"Gi~h..!" Jack's pupils bounced off like crazy pinballs._

_Did she really have to remind him? Wasn't going to lie, for such a slim girl she did have a heavy arm._

"That was only a friendly reminder by the way." Norah flexed her forearm, clenching and unclenching her knuckles to show him what was coming if he wasn't gonna chill, also hinting that it wasn't going to be a light karate chop like last time.  _He was beginning to piss her off for real._

Jessica sighed... She wished she didn't have to resort to such an alarming piece of knowledge, but it was time to let Jack know what he was really dealing with.

"Look. She's already punched 6 guys that wouldn't listen."

"~!" His glaring pupil shrank.

"All of them were older than her and all of them ended up with a black eye."

"..." Alright, Jack was only staring now.

"Get it now, shrimp?"

_**"—?!"** _

She had only flicked his forehead,  _but it hurt._

"If you do then wipe that dumb look off your face and step back."

Had she not stepped over him with that flick he probably would have done as she said, but now...  _Jack was squeezing his fist._

"Jeez... You really wanna push it, don't you?" Norah's fist was bouncing in her palm, "To be frank I feel I already owe you a punch for Kappa back there."

_"...?" Wait.. What? Was she talking about the guy in the costume?_

"He's gone because of you, but you didn't even care to notice, am I right?"

_"Kappa is—!?"_

_"Man, even I didn't pick that up..!"_

_"When did Kappa..?"_

_"Gone again, huh?"_

"..."  _Jack was vainly gazing around him._

_She was right... He didn't even care to notice that Kappa had disappeared._

"...Kappa is really important to me, you know..."

_He was harsh to someone he didn't even know, over something selfish and childish._

_No matter where he cast his eyes at Kappa was nowhere..._

_What if Kappa..._

_"...!" Realizing something Jack's gaze suddenly shot behind Norah._

_The forest..._

_...Could it be..._

"I'm not gonna go easy on you, so get ready." She drew her elbow back.

_Jack couldn't muster any strength after realizing his mess._

_His eyes were just downcast and barren._

_Now he knew why Norah had been looking around for so long._

_._

_._

_She was searching for Kappa._

_._

_._

This was getting out of hand, Jackie was going to step in and help Jack,

"—!?" but a cuff on her wrist prevented her.

"It's alright." Scott's smile seemed assured, "She's not gonna punch him for real."

Though he made Jackie face his way...  _Juuust in case Norah's arm slipped. Norah was really sensitive about Kappa._

Jackie didn't know what to do. She already knew Jack could take a beating from a grown man, but still... She didn't like seeing him getting beat, even if it was a punch from a girl.

_"You got some balls, I'll give you that..." Norah curled a smirk when a different kind of fire was rekindled in Jack's eyes._

_He had reflected on his mistake and now he was even ready to take it squarely to the face._

_That was a good expression for a guy._

_"...!"_

_She let her arm loose._

.

_._

_**"~?!~"** _

A united gasp poured throughout the crossroads. A gasp from everyone but Jackie, who wasn't looking that way.

_What was going on?_

_Why had Scott and Andrew frozen like that?_

_Did Norah hit Jack too hard!?_

_She had to see what hap_ —

"No! Don't look!" Scott seized her out of reflex.

"You don't get to look either man! I-It's..!"

"Y-Yeah, I know, y-you too..."

_What were they doing?_

_Why were they covering each others' eyes?_

_Why were they not letting her turn around?_

_Why...were their faces...beet red..?_

**"GAA** ~ **H!"** Jack finally shot a cry of pain, "You little...! The hell's  _your_  problem!?"

"...!" That was enough for Jackie, she had no clue what was going on except for the fact Jack had been hit.

"No wait!"

"Jackie!"

She pushed away the boys.

_"..." What had just happened?_

Jack was on his knee, holding his foot, but he was angry at Sarah instead of Norah? Sarah, whose very bones were rattling with spite.

"—Aaaaand Jack talked." Norah dusted her hands, "Sarah wins."

"You... you... Serves you damn right..!" Sarah muttered, huffing and puffing, her pigtails still cringed up by the bolt from the blue.

"So, Sarah.." Norah patted her cousin's head. "You're  _it_."

A tumbleweed passed through their circle as a desolate wind howled, silence awkwardly drawing out.

"...Wh—"

"WHAT?!" Sarah exclaimed, her arms requiring an explanation. "But big-sis! Didn't I just...!?"

Norah snorted, amused.

"You thought I wouldn't notice you were using Jessica to make him slip?  _Not to mention you stomped his foot._ "

"B-But that was b-because..." Sarah was welling up. "..Niu..u..gh..!"

"There there.." Jessica lent Sarah her belly to cry on.

"..."

Jackie was not following.

Something was not adding up.

Something that persistent beet red on Scott and Andrew...

Seemed to know.

"Hehehe, as for that..."

Norah looked down at the boy holding his foot, feeling flattered by the red band-aid sitting across his cheekbones.  _The kneeling knight looked so mad at her._

Everyone but Jackie had seen it. How Norah's determined fist that was undoubtedly going for Jack's face...

 

_Stopped..._

_Forsaking its anger..._

_Becoming_ _soft fingers that were reaching out_ _..._

_...How her forest green eyes started closing, how Jack's amber ones were spreading wide._

_...How the tip of her nose had found shelter..._

_...Behind his..._

_..._

_"Andrew you gotta pinch me..!"_

_"Right back at you man..!"_

_"Norah..."_

_"No...No...Big-sis...!"_

Everyone had been blown away by that grinning wink.

**_"SHE LIKES THE NEWCOMER...!?"_ **

_No one but Norah had seen it, the solitary vow raising those amber eyes, moments before embracing the grief they had caused._

_._

_._


	14. Chapter 14

.

.

Pulling a fast one and leaving him with nothing but a glowing red face for everyone to behold seemed like the only way to crack a tough nut like him. Not only that, but it was going to serve as a sweet and cold revenge for the trouble he had caused her with Kappa, call it a personal bonus.  _So she struck and disarmed him, with a straight head-on maneuver he never saw coming._  Norah was waiting for him to get cold feet after what she did, though what she got was... raising one question mark after the other.  _He was beginning to turn away, keeping an eye on her till the last second._

_"..." Always cross-armed, Norah was blinking stunned by the defeaning absence of a loud aftershock._

_That was probably what they called anticlimactic._

For starters boys were supposed to lose their shit when girls jumped them like that, wasn't that how it was supposed to work? Even Andrew and Scott were totally flushed by what they had seen for crying out!...  _But look at him, just turning around and_ _rubbing his arms..._

_"What a pussy..."_

It wasn't even  _that_  chilly...

_..._

_..._

_..._

_HE WAS SPOOKED!?_

_"Are you trying to tell me something pal...!?"_

She didn't even know why her eye was twitching like that, but there was something Norah  _did_  know...— regretting  _not_  punching him. Itching knuckle joints were already crackling inside her palm,  _there was no room for regrets on a Sunday's schedule._ The ground split upon the first step of a vengeful march.

"—!" Though she was easily staggered when he turned around.

"..."

 _"What now...?"_ _It was not long before she was frowning._

He had joined hands over a humble head, bowing...  _pleading?_

 _"...Well, well..." Her smirk had never felt more superior._ _"Too late for that kiddo. Even if you're gonna grovel on your feet I won't—"_

"Can I talk with Jackie for a sec?"

 **_"—GAH!"_ ** _What a headshot! Was this guy for real!?_

"I just need two minutes with her."

_"Jeez...!" What the hell was even going on in that guy's head!? He was giving her some headaches to remember!_

_But... She was curious why he wanted to have a word with his sister all of a sudden._

"It's really important."

_"..." Wow, he wasn't kidding._

It sounded like an important matter he wanted to keep in private.

Sure she had unfinished business with his ass, but she also knew when  _not to_  stick her nose in others' business.

"Sure."

_She could always punch him later anyway._

.

.

.

.

_"Figures..." Hard-angled brows steepened, once again regretting NOT punching him._

Turns that he wanted to chew her out. Their argument was indistinct at first since the siblings had distanced themselves from the stretched ears, most of it was just the brother making angry gestures anyway... But  _boy_  that guy failed at keeping the tones down when something struck a nerve, they didn't even need to eavesdrop on them to get a hint.

...

_"She told you what!? That's why you told everyone about the leg thing!?"_

_"..."_

_"Wait, you're joking right? So you're saying you want me to wake you up humming a song or something? Lemme ask you, have you ever listened to yourself snoring?"_

_"..."_

_"Not my fault your nose is all stuffed up. Start wearing socks maybe?"_

_"..."_

_"Know what? We just went to the doctor. Your nose is fine. And it's summer, you can't catch a cold. Just admit it Jackie, you sleep like a mountain grizzly and that's that."_

...

Norah zoned out gazing their way after a while, somewhat dissuaded to keep track of the siblings' squabbling _—_   _if one could even call it squabbling_. It seemed more like a skit they'd been practicing to perfection without even knowing.

_"...Makes you wonder how many times they've been through this snore-talk."_

It wasn't even about a serious matter like she had guessed at first, but he insisted on keeping it between himself and his sister _... So..._  He was either finding trouble trusting the kids here, or he was just too conscious about embarrassing his sister, going out with his gripe in front of everyone.

_...Both, probably._

Honestly she'd rather not give him anything but the rightful punch she owed him for reasons, but she'd always give credit where credit was due.  _She could see where he was coming from._  Two kids that had always avoided the village, only ever taught how to survive like wolf pups in the forest, with their lone comfort found in each other's company,  _probably for as long as they could remember?.._  Yeah, he really didn't want risking that relationship by making a scene for silly things. Just trying to imagine the rough times they must've been through was already beyond her. In the end the only ones who knew, or would ever know those hardships, were those two.

Norah's view had locked on the hothead of a brother, a curious hothead that her blinks could not be appeased with no matter how many of his scolding expressions they captured.

_"...He's raining down bricks but... He cares about her."_

She panned to Jackie, who was willingly allowing herself to make all sorts of regrettable faces from Jack pinching and messing with her cheeks.

_"...and she knows it too."_

Because if anything, Jackie didn't look like the type of girl that'd let just anyone do as they wanted with her cheeks. If she did, it would have to be because she was comfortable with the person doing it.. _and well, about that..._ she seemed to be trusting her brother very unconditionally, like she was getting sucked inside a giddy bubble the more he bullied her cheeks.  _It couldn't be that she was growing to like her hostage situation..._

Good grief, they didn't say it for jokes..  _Stay behind the bars for too long and you'll start liking the bars._

"..."

Still, what a rare sight for siblings. Using each other's annoying habits, not as an excuse to widen the gap of their sibling relationship, but to bring it closer. Watching how close those two were Norah had forgotten she could let out a sigh of that kind. Not a hopeless one, but a wistful one.

_"...If only every brother and sister were like those two... We'd be better people."_

The humane values that truly mattered were being buried deeper and deeper into the ground these days, yet Jack and Jackie had used their own two hands to unbury those lost values, learnt to cherish those lost values, values that were still lost to Andrew and Sarah.

_"..."_

_...What if Andrew and Sarah had been born in Jack and Jackie's tattered shoes?_

_...Would they have also learnt how to cherish each other?_

_...Would things be any different now?_

_"..."_

Once Norah would start thinking about the rapidly growing changes brought into sibling relationships because of the so called modern stereotypes, she felt like a tide was dragging her to the bottom of an ocean, erasing her existence. If those modern stereotypes wanted brothers and sisters to be at each other's throats, or worse, not giving a damn about what happens to the other.. she'd rather not live to see this modern pestilence take over the world.

 _But, that right there, a brother still caring for his sister_ _—_ _though he may be abusing her cheeks a bit_ _—_ _was a beacon of hope._

Norah's hips had climbed up on a wooden fence keeping the tall corn behind her to sit and manage her syllogisms. She was trying to, but that hothead's promised two minutes were going by  _pretty-pretty_  slow... He wasn't gonna be popular with girls if he made it a habit to stand them up. Displeased, her eye rolled the other way.

_"...You look at that..?"_

Andrew, Scott and Jessica had their own little circle going on. Now that school was over they were discussing their plans for the summer. Well, they seemed to be getting along nicely...

_HELL! Watching all these fun cliques around her was not helping at all!_

_She was just sitting there with puffed cheeks that were beginning not to fit inside her palms!_

_"...This guy..."_

_He was taking his sweet time, wasn't he?_

Was he doing it on purpose?

This had to be revenge for sending him to the detention corner with Sarah back there, right?

She was feeling it, the restlessness born from endless waiting.

This was pure karma at work.

_"..."_

_...Really? They were still going on about ways to fix her snoring?_

_"She can't even do that, idiot. How can she control such a thing when she's already sleep_ _—..._ _"_

...Norah yawned, wide and teary-eyed.

"M~mmh!..."

...and stretched... with no restraint.

Nothing in this world could make her want to stretch as much as a good yawn.

_Was all that talk about snoring getting to her or what?..._

...

_"Alright Jackie, listen up.."_

_**"...—!"** _

_..._

_"...!" Oh wow.. did he actually say that? "...Well, n_ _ot giving her much of an option there."_

An urge to laugh messed up her stretch.

_"—worst brother right there."_

_Busy arching and cracking her spine Norah never noticed that a very overcast face had been silently rumbling next to her._

"..Can I ask you?.." The voice soughed.

"M-mh..?" She hardly hummed back from another arm-stretch.

"..Why did you do that?.."

"..." That caught her eye,  _a very yawn-stupored eye..._

Was the number one troublemaker calling her a troublemaker or something?

"...Do what?"

"Kh!..." Her cousin's neck hung distant all of a sudden, she really didn't want to go in further detail.

"Hmm...mmmm...Oh...!" It finally popped to Norah, "You mean..."

_*chu*_

_**"—?!"** _

"...This?"

Sarah almost lost her balance, her supporting arm on the fence slipped.

"Pfwahahahaha!" She was splitting her sides at her cousin's adorable acrobatics, "Can't even handle a little peck from your big-sis?" She covered the gleeful grin.

"W-What in the world are you talking about!? Of course I can! It's because you flanked me,  _flanked me_!"

Steaming with embarrassment implied otherwise but it didn't feel right to insist with the tease. It was funny and a bit ironic, Sarah had reacted the exact way she had wanted Jack to react. How could she forget that she could always count on her lil' cuz to cheer her up?

"..Besides.."

"...?"

She had pampered her with a peck on the cheek, but now her cousin was turning to herself all somber again..?

"..That's not exactly what you did.. with... _ **—**_ "

_She never finished._

_She wasn't going to say the word, e_ _ven uttering his name felt like a blasphemy after what happened._

"I guess you're right." Norah answered anyhow, legs dangling as she smiled at her cousin's listening ear, "I kinda missed both flanks there."

 **_"KINDA MISSED_ ** _**—** _ **_!?"_ **

"I figured he wasn't gonna back down even if I took a swing at him, so..."

_"...So...?" She was waiting, all ears._

"I just wanted to teach him a lesson, okay?" Her nose turned away, snootily.

_Sarah squeezed the fence._

She didn't doubt the fact Norah intended to teach him a lesson, Norah would never lie even about the most embarrassing of things.

It was just that this time around she was pointing out facts that were possibly casting shades on other things.

"...Well, it seemed like a very  _special_  lesson to me."

 _"Gh..!"_ Only a slit was parting her reluctant eyelids, "...H-How so?"

"Let's see.." Sarah pretended to reminisce at the sky, "Remember that one time Scott used a stick to.. you know...  _lift.._  Jessica's dress?"

_Norah was suddenly goggling like a bumpkin._

"Ugh..!" That landed so hard she had to slap her face in the middle. "Course I do. How can I forget that.."

"Back then you also said the same thing, that he needed to learn a lesson."

"He did." Norah knit her brows very unapologetically, "Even if it was a prank he crossed a line."

Sarah smiled and nodded to herself. So far so good, their understanding on criminal misbehavior was perfectly mutual.

"Scott panicked and tried to talk his way out, remember?"

"Ha!" Norah crossed her arms and buried a sadistic smirk, "He could beg and bargain all day but he was not getting outta that one."

"In the end you promised him a light punch."

"...Uh, yeah...?"  _Did she? That part was blurry._

"...Then you drove a fist right between his eyes. Knocked him out cold."

_"A~choo!"_

_Scott wiped his nose, it got kinda chilly all of a sudden._

"Scott had been well-mannered for the most part."

It was not like her to do flashy things but Norah went along flaunting a wisp that had escaped her bun.

"I did not give him a black eye out of consideration towards his past clean criminal record."

_Not even the slightest sliver of guilt, huh? She was generous as far as she was concerned._

"..What's that look for?" Norah pouted with suspicion, like her cousin's awkward smile was telling her to get a hint.

"Anyway, what I'm trying to say is.. It never mattered what kind of guy it was, good or bad. Discipline was always the same."

"Well, yeah. If you start favoring then you can't call it fair anymore."

"My point exactly."

"..."

Well, silence was getting awkward.

Probably because Sarah's finger was pinpointing a very specific target while staring at Norah, critical and displeased.

"W..What about...him?" The red-haired girl tried to evade the finger.

"...What do you mean  _what about him_?"

_**"—!?"** Sarah jumped in her face._

"First he upsets Kappa and you just karate-chop his head,  _very lightly too_ , then he's growling right in your face and you just give him a flick!? And after all that you're saying you  _missed the flanks_  there!?"

_"..."_

_Arms between legs!? That was her answer!?_

Sarah let out a cruel sigh.

"...You know you've never done that for anyone."

_She nodded, nodded and nodded._

_Only with her guilty silence._

_._

_._


	15. Chapter 15

.

.

While they may not be real paintings, Norah's skill at visualizing portraits out of someone's persona could be called an artistry that was no second to the real thing. It was usually the little details that people would hardly ever notice that helped her piece together a person's true portrait.

Easy to miss details, like the habitual expressions one would unconsciously wear when passively observing others, was one of them. They could be snapshots of a glare or a leer, a smirk or a wince, a hiss or a chuckle. Small suggestive changes like these could actually reveal someone's predisposition to nervousness, bad-temper, dispassion, envy, even nastiness, amongst other things. All sorts of hidden portraits would slowly but surely come to surface while studying someone who was under the impression it was only them studying others.

She knew this was no different to spying on people's habits and behaviors, but she would not think twice about taking up the role of an undercover officer if it meant preventing a can of worms from spilling for real. After all, she had not punched all those teen boys for some silly reason. For the short version of it, there were some real good actors out there, all too confident in their skill at pretending friendliness, when in reality they were harboring all sorts of shady intentions,  _especially towards the girls._

She had to give it to them though, some of those boys had done a hell of a homework on how 'speech was silver'. Sadly for them, not one of those idiots had considered turning a leaf on how 'silence was golden'. Hard lesson learnt, since a black eye,  _was an educated eye._

It was deceitful on her behalf, immoral even, but at the end of the day the most reliable method to gauge a mind did not lie in the exchange of lighthearted words, but by letting those unaware background faces say what they wanted to say in the mouth's place. As a matter of fact, though she had told Jack and Jackie it was okay to loosen their collars, she said it so she could keep some tabs on them. She did not mean to bait them into letting their guard down or anything like that, she was the one who approached them after all, but she had to make sure, especially since she knew how crafty even some innocent-looking fellows could be. Hindsight may have forced her to become overly cautious of newcomers, but she wasn't gonna start rejecting every kid just because of a few mistakes made in the past.

For the record, she had already given Jackie a passing grade. She was timid all the way down to the marrow, mostly apparent from the way she'd start fidgeting whenever her name was called. Jackie was probably the kind of sensitive girl that'd spend time reflecting on worries and ways to deal with life. A meek, but otherwise normal girl. Interesting fact about her; She was very suspicious of people in costumes and that suspicion could make her eye glint with sharpness.  _She had probably figured what the deal with Kappa was, fingers crossed she'd keep it to herself._

That said, turning over Jackie's page...

_There was her brother._

No doubt, Jackie's mom had created some piece of work with him, the woman deserved some serious praise, like.. a mighty statue for a mighty feat.

Jack was bold, disrespectful, distrusting, short-fused, stubborn and forward in every way _... and worst of all, God..._  Did he not give  _two shits_  about what people would think of it. He was so different from his reserved sister, an uncontrollable wildfire...  _that believed in magic beings like Kappas._ When trying to make something out of him one could only start _knocking the sudden headaches_  —knowing that the real throbbing had yet to begin. Because apparently he did have a side to him that could be called level-headed,  _soft_ even _._ His caring feelings for Jackie were undeniably there, as were his emotions of guilt towards Kappa.

_"..." Not a total jerk, but she was not giving him a pass._

There was something  _very_  odd about him. It was part of the reason she used the opportunity and goaded him into playing the jinxees' game along with Sarah, in truth so she could watch him closely while his mouth was sealed _._ From her past experiences Norah had come to learn that every person had two portraits. The one they'd show to others, as well as their inner projection, a different kind of portrait no one could see because it only existed in the person's head. That did not mean everyone was two-faced of course, but at the same time no one's actions were in perfect harmony with their mind either— herself, Sarah and everyone else here included. That was happening because everyone kept little secrets nested in the back of their minds, worrying thoughts that'd make people seem out of it once they started reflecting.

_...That was the exact problem with this guy..._

Once the right to talk was taken away from him, what one would see, loud and clear, was his inner projection literally possessing his physical body. Maybe it was his impulsive character making it so easy, or maybe he was just frustrated he had to stay put next to Sarah while his sister was telling everyone about his morning pranks on her... but in the end, what mattered, was that this guy's inner projection..  _was a perfect match with his visible one._  It was not something as simple as not caring to hide how he felt, not being able to say what he wanted to say was literally  _suffocating him._ Like... she could easily see him cutting her to ribbons with his eyes the exact same way he would've done with his mouth if he was able to talk. It was a scary fact that Sarah was actually spot-on about him right from the start. Jack was too tactless, speaking his mind out —with or without a mouth— not regretting any of it _.._ Because even if he did make a mistake, he was not the kind of person that was just going to curl on the bed and let the regrets eat him away.

_Those eyes he showed her, as she was about to punch him, were not mistaken._

_Believe it or not, this piece of work already had what even some grown men didn't._

_And it wasn't just about balls._

_"..." Still not giving him a pass though._

Because recalling the headshot he gave her right after... He was also really, really...  _really..._

— _DENSE_ —

_"Voodooooo~m..." The red-hair was humming the song of eternal pout on her chin._

"..." This was really, really... _really..._

_—BAD—_

"...I dun get it..." she kept mumbling through pouted lips, "Did I go wrong somewhere?..."

"..." A better question would be 'Did I  _not_  go wrong somewhere?'

_For starters, the guy himself was a mistake._

"...I jus' duuun get it..." Her face plunged like a hopeless mop inside her hugged knees, never came out.

"..."

Sarah was terrified by the possibility Norah's skill at reading people was beginning to lose its edge, because there was no other way to explain a situation that had no precedent. Right now a single fact stood, watching her once fierce big-sis now mopping like a big crybaby. Sarah's mind was too powerful to just let itself get possessed by demons, but Norah's wasn't.  _Not anymore_ , that is. Age was truly a formidable foe, seeing how it could make the most impervious of minds vulnerable to demons. She hoped she'd never have to see them possessing someone, least her dear big-sis out of everyone, but there they were...

 _The Puberty_ _Demons_

They were taking away all hope from her fearless big-sis, infecting her with a high fever, eating her from the inside out, slowly killing her with... with..

.

.

_...A CRUSH!..._

_._

_._

Sarah's head was shaking side to side to reject the welling tears, she had to stay strong in front of this calamity.

 _Together..._  Yes,  _together_  they were going to overcome this crisis.

"...Wha'do boys like anyways huh...?" Norah whimpered.

Her big-sis was definitely ill, even her dreadful bumpkin accent was beginning to crawl out of the rocks.  _She sounded like a drunk!_

Sarah had to help her find a cure, _so—_

"...But uh know... They like Jessica, dun they?"

 _—_ SO WHY WAS SHE ASKING HER THESE BRAZEN QUESTIONS!? LIKE SHE HAD A FRIGGIN CLUE!

"Forget it. He's not good for you."

_There, she said it. No regrets._

"Nggh..." Norah grudgingly stirred her mop to peek, "How are you so sure?"

_Sarah was about to crack her molars._

_Couldn't lose it now. She had to persevere and guide her big-sis back to the light with very calm and rational arguments._

"We're talking about the same douchebag, are we not? The one who just a moment ago  _threatened_  his sister that he was going to  _put her under the pillow_  if she didn't stop keeping him up at night."

"Mnn.."  _Norah was skeptical,_  " I dun think he meant it."

_"WHA—!?"_

_Sarah was shocked, what the hell!?_

_"OF COURSE HE DIDN'T MEAN IT! ARE YOU CRAZY!? IF HE DID HE'D DESERVE MORE THAN JUST A PUNCH!"_

Norah's fever was far worse than she thought, her judgement could only reach as far as the thick demon fog allowed.

"...'haps he's right.. 'haps she dozes heavy, y'know?..."

_"Are you defending him now, seriously!?"_

She was not debating with her drunk bubbles anymore,  _it was time to take out the real big guns._

"W-What's that?" Norah was startled, everything had gone black.

_Something was covering her face._

Sarah's expression turned grim, for what was inside that cursed artifact,  _could not be questioned._

Norah took hold of the magazine slapped in her face.

She looked at it, then looked at Sarah,  _not too sure._

"Compatibility between zodiac signs..?"

"Mm-mm!" Sarah kept nodding...  _until she noticed some inexcusable hiccups_ "...Why are you laughing? This is serious."

"C'mon 'cuz, you can do better than that." She was stretching again, a cup of humor was all she needed to chin up "...'sides, you don't even know his sign."

"Hmph." Sarah smirked to herself, crossing arms and legs alike.

"Huh. Jackie told you?"

"Jackie? September 2nd, she's a Virgo."

"Really? What about her brother?"

_Hohoho... How the demons made the heart fickle._

"To be honest, didn't care enough to ask her."

"GAH—!"  _A Sunday full of headshots._ "Why show me this then?" She whipped the fence with the magazine a few times.

Sarah opened her eyes and cast an unwelcome glare at the distant target.

"Isn't it enough obvious as it is? There's no other sign that  _stings_  like  _he_  does."

Vicious dark claws were closing in behind Sarah's back, ready to tear her apart.

"KYAAAH~!" She screamed and her pigtails shot upwards.

Everyone had suddenly turned at the direction of the distress signal.

"STOP IT! PLEASE STO~ AHAHA~AHAH!" She couldn't control the hysteric laughter.

"Scorpio, huh?" Her fingers kept tickling her up and down at the sides. "So Jackie  _did_  tell you."

"~She did~She did!"

_Curses! Sarah couldn't believe how she gave in so easily._

_At least the tickle-torture was over and t_ _he amused spectators were turning away. How embarrassing..!_

"Hmmm...?" Norah tied her cousin in her arms, cornering her with a suggestive smile from above, "And you  _did_  care enough to ask."

"W-What do you mean by that? I was just d-doing research on m-my enemy, y-you know!?..."

"..." Norah picked a brow.

 _Sarah stuttering like that could only mean one thing; Guilty of charge_ _._

_On what crime though..?_

_...Well, there was only one way to find out..._

"What else did Jackie say? That was a lot of girl-talk back there."

"Niuugh..!" Sarah was squirming left and right, already regretting everything.

"Wanna get tickled again?"

_**"—!"** _

Blackmailing worked all too easily on her cousin, what an obedient little child she was.

"...Y-You heard that, did you not? He does that awful t-thing to her in the morning, p-pulling his poor sister from the leg l-like she's—"

"Doesn't sound so awful, nor does she seem to hate him for it."

"...!" Her big-sis didn't seem to appreciate some of her self-inserted adjectives.  _Busted._

_Norah's expression was done hitting around the bush._

"What does Jackie think about him?"

"K-K..uh!" Sarah couldn't force it down her throat,  _what Norah was asking to learn was one huge lump to swallow._

"Alright... You asked for it." Her crossed arms were moving lower, "Shall I start with your armpits this time?"

_Sarah's eyes suddenly cracked wide._

_...And her Adam's apple easily bobbed._

_Couldn't deny it. Her big-sis had her own way with spoon-feeding stubborn children._

"I'm all ears."

Making peace with her mind Sarah heaved empty of challenge and reluctantly turned at Jackie's direction.

"..." She looked to be having so much fun getting teased and teasing him back...

_But, how was she supposed to say this..._

"...She said..."

"...Yeah...?"

"She said she and her brother sleep on a bunk. She gets the top bed, by the way."

"Hmm, I remember pops once saying Jackie was the first one to come out, so I can see how that works."

"...R-Right..."

"What's so strange about it though?"

"...Well, she... Doesn't like the top bed  _that_  much..."

"I see what's going on, they're trading beds without telling their parents right?"

"Close, but.. not really."

"..." Norah's brain cogwheels had stopped.

She was just staring Sarah who was staring her back.

"...She said she likes sleeping.. together.. with... him... in his bed..."

"..."

"..."

"...Just like me and...!"

Sarah didn't want to, but she nodded along with Norah.

_Quite the spooky coincidence, if you asked her._

"—!" Sarah was taken aback, suddenly everything had gone black.

_Open pages were rubbing her face._

"Tell me how compatible Scorpio and Leo are!"

"..."

_How was she supposed to say this..._

_...without pouring even more oil to the fire?_

_._

_._


	16. Chapter 16

.

.

"...So, to simply put it..."

Sarah's cupped palms came together and the two open halves met with a thump, once again sealing the dark contents inscribed within the cursed artifact.

"Scorpio and Leo are a  _terrible_  match."

After guiding her to the enlightenment forged by the stars themselves, Sarah could finally turn and show Norah her librarian's intellectual brows.

Not that her big-sis could care about an  _'I told you so'_ , she was back to mopping inside her knee-bucket.

"This is the latest, brand-new, summer-opening-exclusive issue by the way  _—Been rummaging our mailbox every morning for it_ _—_  so predictions come as close as they get.

"...Aww c'mon man...!" Norah was scratching and tousling her hair, _very nervously,_ "Constellations? Retrograde? Synastry? Quadrants? Who the hell writes this stuff!"

"Nah-uh." She wagged her finger, "I know the amount of cosmic knowledge may be a bit too much to take in all at once, but that's exactly why you shouldn't let your Leo's ego look down on the wisdom that saved you from the mistake you were about to step into."

"..." Norah barely crawled an inch out of her knee-bucket to show Sarah  _one very frustrated_  bead that was sitting on the verge of her eye.

_Sarah didn't like that blaming look she was sending her._

"You didn't get the answer you were wishing for, so you're not going to take it for an answer at all. Just like the  _Leo_  you are."

_She chose to answer as if she were Norah's selfish mirror. She had nothing to apologize for._

"I know _—_ alright? I know..."

_"..." Back to mopping in her knee-bucket again, huh?_

_Well, it was as they said; Time heals all wounds._

_Norah was hung up on Jack, that couldn't be helped._

_Hence some time alone with herself was what she needed._

_She'd be over him before any of this felt like it had ever happened, Sarah was sure of it._

_Soon she would realize how thankful she should've been to the stars for opening her eyes._

"...But..."

"...?"

"...Am I really...  _that..._ incompatible with him?..."

 _"..." Apparently_ _, it was going to be a long road to help her get over her denial._

"...I mean, you did say all that was only predictions, right?"

 **_"ONLY_ ** _—_ **_!?"_ **

"...But if it's only predictions, it means there's always a chance they're gonna be wrong about me and J _—...!_ "

_A hand signalled her to stop right there._

_Not only she said 'ONLY' twice, she almost uttered his despicable name._

_Sadly Norah had never been a quick learner._

_As expected, she was in dire need of_ _supplementary classes._

Sarah drew a courageous deep breath before beginning.

"I'll go over it one more time..."

"Mm-mm!" Norah nodded.

"...and I will be using the simplest of terms I can think of..."

"Mm-mm!" She nodded again.

"...if I am to hope that at least  _some of it_  is gonna sink in."

"Mm-m _—_ HEY!" She barked.

_Amazing, she was actually paying attention to class._

"The most important thing you need to keep in mind is that each zodiac sign represents an element."

"Fire, earth, air and water. I think I least remember that. My Leo is a fire sign, right?"

_Very good, at least not all of what she had said had gone in one ear and out the other._

"Now, the way elements work in relationships is pretty straightforward."

_"..." Norah's fists clenched against her thighs, anticipating. Sarah was about to get to the good part._

"Ideally signs will be attracted to signs of the same element. For instance, take a look at us. You're a Leo and I'm—!"

_Squeezed her in a hug before she could even blink._

" _Teeheee~_ Aries right?"

"R-Right..  _Fufu.._ "

_Norah's cheek rub, a mighty technique that made even Sarah's hard-to-please face give in to giddiness._

"A-Anyway... We're both fire signs, that's why the two of us get along better than we do with the others."

"Now that you mention it..." Norah pondered on her chin, "I had never looked at it that way."

_Maybe she had a point after all._

"That said, it doesn't mean a sign cannot choose to be with a sign of a different element."

_"..." Well, yeah. Having no actual options would be really boring. Like, having hard-boiled eggs for breakfast everyday. Soft-boiled eggs were nice for a change._

"As a matter of fact, sometimes signs might be attracted to their complementary element. Can you guess which elements complement each  _oth..er..._ "

_Norah looked alarmingly eager to answer... Those trembling fists on her chest were about to blow from excitement._

"FIRE AND WATER!"

_Right!? Right!?_

Sarah had turned to a half-grinning statue.

"Can you do me a favor... and stop thinking about  _him_  for a sec?"

_"Erk...!" She winced back an intimidated apology._

"..." Sarah closed her eyes and exhaled  _calmly_.

She had to show some mighty patience and explain to Norah that the butterflies fluttering in her belly were the harbingers of doom for the elements.

"...Fire is complemented by air, while earth is complemented by water... Just.. Think of it this way  _—_ Fire cannot burn without oxygen, while the earth is nourished by water. Take all the flowers for instance, they belong to the earth, but they also need water to _—_...?"

_...Norah was having a hard time keeping her mouth still?_

_...She was shivering? Fighting with something?_

_...Was something wrong with her?_

_"..." Or could it be..._

_"...Please let those be the butterflies that realized they were in the wrong place..._

_...Please let her say something reasonable..."_

_._

_._

_Norah yawned._

_Wide, like the lion she was._

_Just a passing thought, but an apple could probably fit in her mouth._

"Nhh..Sorry.." She rubbed the foggy eye, "Can't shake the morning off of me.."

Sarah answered with a deadpan silence.

"C'mon.." She shook her head, "I really didn't mean to _—_ "

"I see there really is only  _one match_  that can interest you..."

Sarah's posture began leaning and invading while Norah's was backing away.

"So let's talk about Scorpio and Leo, shall we?"

"..." She failed to hide behind guiltily drawn lips,  _got her there._

"I'm sure that  _unlike everything else I've said so far_ , you've actually carved this deep in your memory and remember more than plenty how Scorpio is a water sign."

She nodded with excitement.

_Uh, wait... was she supposed not to?_

"...So tell me... What happens when you mix fire and water?"

"STEAM!" Norah jumped in Sarah's space, confident. "HOT STEAM!"

_Her nonsensical enthusiasm was beginning to get under her skin, like really bad..._

_Sarah was glaring her up._

"...What happens is that the fire goes out, and the water evaporates."

_Norah felt something was amiss. When did this turn into physics?_

"Don't you get it? Fire and water will only manage to  _harm_  each other."

"..."

"..."

Seconds passed as the two girls were just contesting with their stares, but ironically enough neither one could claim they were seeing each other eye to eye.  _A huge gap was separating their opinions._

Eventually Norah seemingly gave up, closing her eyes and heaving her chest.

"...I'm sure water and fire harming each other is what you've been trying to prove for the past three years..."

_"—!" ...What... she didn't just go there...!_

"...So since you've become an expert on opposite elements, here's some food for thought... This is something I picked up in science class the other day."

"...Which is...?"

_Come on..._

_Norah had actually managed to pick something up in class? Science class, even?_

_That had surely earned Sarah's sarcastic attention._

_"_ _—...!" But... w_ _hat was she doing? Norah looked kinda scary._

She had suddenly rousted a fist, more fired up than ever.

"OPPOSITES... **ATTRACT**!"

_**"~?!"** _

The fierce declaration came with a blast of wind that almost blew Sarah away.

Sarah couldn't speak a word even after lowering her arms. The flames burning in Norah's eyes were not lying, they were making Sarah's very skin crawl with awe.

_"—GAH!"_

_Awe that had lasted for three seconds, because then an invisible sniper put a bullet between her eyes._

_"THAT'S FOR QUANTUM PHYSICS YOU DUMMY! WATER AND FIRE DON'T WORK LIKE THAT! YOU'RE JUST_ _—JUST...!_ _"_

"Watch out!" Norah's whole body twitched with panic.

Sarah had started to fall on her back, but she didn't care about stopping her fall.

"..."

_Norah was wrong through and through, she was letting a stupid crush mess with her reason. A clouded mind._

_And yet... The unflinching way she had declared that clouded mind of hers..._

_...was kind of cool._

_"As expected of a Leo."_

_Once she got passionate about something, there was nothing telling her otherwise._

_She'd set her eyes to the end of the horizon, not scared to march alone..._

_Not knowing she was inspiring even cowards... to follow in her steps._

_Sarah smiled._

_This was utter defeat, both to Norah, as well as..._

"JEEZ!"

"...?"

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack!?"

_"..." Sarah was still on the fence, saved._

Her big-sis was towing her from the wrist to return her to balance,  _when she noticed her calm smile._

"...I want you to know I'm still not approving of it."

"Hehe." Norah grinned and scratched her cheek, kind of embarrassed, "I thought you wouldn't."

"But I am... gonna root for you."

"—!"  _Oh wow_ , did she  _not_  see that loving face coming...

"...So let's both do our best... with those water signs."

"Heh. Yeah.." Norah humbled a smile.

...So, it  _was_  like that, after all... Sure she had been keeping her suspicions... But it was good to know that was indeed the reason Sarah had been acting that way towards him. She wanted to be noticed, Norah had already figured that much. It was just... Sarah could be a little  _testing_  with getting her feelings through. It had been over three years already, she had to step up and show it to him... Not the fake, spoiled Sarah... but the real,  _sensitive one._

"...Oh."

"U-Uh..!"

The girls had to make some awkward gestures to inform their spectators everything was fine. Some of them had stifled a gasp, others looked surprised...  _and one looked rather disappointed by the save._

_It was just a concerning thought, but Sarah would have to put some serious effort into bridging that gap._

"Can't help it." Sarah was waving at the group of three, "Fire signs tend to be the center of attention."

"Y-You don't say.." Norah grinned, a nerve in her brow twitching.

"...I forgot to tell you by the way..."

"..Tell me what?"

_Also, why was she still waving at Jessica?_

"Jessica is an even worse match for him than you are."

 **"~ _!"_** _From the ashes her chances were once again rising._

"I mean, fire will surely make him boil crazy.. But  _wind_  will without a doubt turn him into a storm."

"..But.. When he first saw her.. He..?"

"A false alarm from a false first impression."

"You're not saying that for jokes right?"

"She's a Gemini. Introduces herself as a reserved girl, but starts getting more playful as she gets to know him."

"What's wrong with being playful though?"

"It's not about being playful. The Gemini's twin nature makes them feel kind of superficial, lacking deep-emotion, you could say. Water signs absolutely hate that."

"Well, you just got my Leo's curiosity going again."

"H-Hey wait! What are you gonna do with..!?"

Norah had snatched the tucked magazine right out of her skirt.  _What a thieving-cat!_

"There was a chart-like thingy around here right?"

Norah was leafing through the pages.

"Page 27." Sarah sighed, frustrated.

"..Right! There it is!"

_The zodiac love compatibility chart. The bigger the heart size, the bigger the compatibility._

"No way! You weren't kidding..!" Norah's pupils were dilating and her heart was beating fast.

That was a medium-sized heart right where Scorpio and Leo crossed each other in the chart.

 _Chances looked mighty-fine if you asked her._  At least way better than all those tiny black hearts. Scorpio had a lot of these tiny ones by the way, _stung a lot probably._

"Medium-size means it can go either way." Sarah explained.

"Either way is still better than 'no way', right?"

Norah then examined the chart some more.

It was actually like a fun little game, searching with her finger and discovering which signs matched the most.

" **WOA~H**  that's a big one!"

_"...Uh-oh..."_

"Which ones is that!?"

Horizontal line was...

_...Scorpio?_

"...Huh!?"

And suddenly Norah's face was burrowing into the magazine.

_Which one was such a great match for Scorpio!?_

_"Vertical line, vertical line..!"_

Her finger was going all the way up...

_...Until..._

_What she read exploded in her face._

"W-What an irony, huh?" Sarah tried to laugh, but Norah couldn't even hear her.

_An eerie wind brew and her wisps fluttered across her face..._

_...as Norah's disbelieving eyes were ever bound..._ _by the only Virgo present._

"...HUH!?"

_._

_._


	17. Chapter 17

"I know you're a worrywart, but now you're just being paranoid. She's his sister you know? It's like she's not even there."

"I know that, it's just.. I never doubted they were getting along, I just didn't see that huge heart coming.."

"Besides.."

"...?"

_Sarah's tender hands were holding hers, warming her with assurance._

"I'm sure you've noticed, but his sister is probably liking Scott..!" She kept a suggestive wink.

Norah  _too_  grinned suggestively as soon as  _Scott's_  name came up.

"That's a hell of a surprise party you're wishing for Jackie."

"..W-Why not..?" _She didn't like the idea?_

_Jackie liked Scott and Norah liked Jackie's brother._

_Jackie being around Scott and not around her brother was what Norah should be hoping for as well._

_It was two birds with one stone, like, come on!_

"...'A false alarm from a false first impression', was it? That's what you said about Jessica."

"Uh.. Right, but..?"  _That was a sudden name in there._

"Believe it or not, I think I'm gonna have to agree with you there, seeing how he freaked out when he realized what Jessica was up to."

"O..kay..? But what does that have to do with _—...!_ "

Norah pounced closer, visibly tempered.

"I think you're forgetting a small detail about Scott."

"Alright, I'm not following at all."

_Now it was about Scott again?_

"Scott's  _also_  a Gemini! Just like Jessica!"

"...Ohhh..." And Sarah's confusion felt like a yesterday thing.

_She was taking back every sarcastic remark she had ever made about her big-sis's memory._

_It completely slipped her mind that Scott's birthday was actually close to Jessica's._

_Probably because she and Scott didn't talk that much. Dress-pickers weren't exactly her cup of tea._

"Now tell me what happens when Jackie grows familiar with Scott's naughty side? Say.. When he feels like  _pranking_  her?"

"..She probably won't.. like.. it..."

"You're glossing over Jackie like she's Jessica, but I'm quite sure by now Jackie reminds everyone of a certain  _someone else_.

"Uhh...?"

"...Does  _Kappa_  ring a bell?"

_Yet another stunning observation by her big-sis._

_Sarah was nodding on a skeptical chin._

"...She'll probably run crying to her brother, run back home, then cry a day in his arms."

"Right! And then they'll probably never set foot anywhere near us ever again!"

_Sarah checked her own forehead with an index._

_She didn't have a fever yet, but the possibilities she could think of because of a disastrous mismatch were starting a headache._

"There's not much we can do about it though. For better or worse earth and water signs are very earnest, they can't handle impish air signs that well."

Norah poised on her arms, leaning backwards.

Her musings had mounted a lone cloud in the sky.

"...Despite you and Jessica trying to trick him, he doesn't feel like a person that's gonna bother holding grudges for those things.. And yet, I can't shake off that feeling.. That he will go full thrust on the wrong idea if  _Jackie_ happens to get the wrong idea.. Can't exactly put it into words."

"Not really, I think I know what you're saying. 'Upset her and  _God be with_  whoever upset her'."

"Right! Right! That's exactly it!" Norah finger-snapped.

_Sarah's eye rolled, drawn by something very suspicious in Norah's enthusiasm._

"I don't even wanna guess how he's done it, but I'll at least give that to him..."

Sarah took her time picking her next words, actually to observe how Norah was steadily drawn to the edge of her seat for every second she didn't finish her sentence.

"...His sister's doting on him."

Norah was colored neither surprised nor jealous. She was just stiff, fumbling around for a place to put away that  _smiling, guilty... blush._

"I KNEW IT!"

"—!?"

Sarah's finger was suddenly accusing her.

"I should've figured it was right under my nose when you went  _bonkers_  the moment I mentioned they're sleeping on the same—..."

"...!" Norah was flailing at Sarah to keep it down.

_Oh she'd keep it down alright, this prosecutor knew better..._

"...Even if I didn't see it back then, it should've been clear as broad daylight as soon as you started comparing Jackie to Kappa.. But to think...!"

"Owie..!" Sarah was passing a very harsh  _pinching_  sentence on Norah's cheek.

"...But to think  _that's_  why you like him..!"

_"Aw maaan...!" Her soul was shooting tears._

"You believe he's the same as you! Always protecting and looking out for his s—...!"

Norah's eyes instinctively flew open,  _forbidding her._

"...Sorry, my bad..." Sarah humbled her words, "I almost forgot you want this matter staying home.."

_A known silence separated their eyes._

"...I want to let it stay home...I really do but..."  _Norah grunted in discomfort, something got in her eye,_  "...Kappa's gonna have to...come out of hiding...one day...right..?"

_Her big-sis was trying to put up a brave face but a single sniff gave her away._

"T-There there.." Sarah consoled Norah's hopeless head,  _a little_ hesitantly maybe.

This was really, really awkward, she didn't even know if she was doing the head-pat right. Usually it would be her wailing and Jessica doing the comfort part,  _so yeah.._  First time lending her lap for someone to sob on was only making her realize the arduous task Jessica had been shouldering.  _Numerous times._  Sarah had always avoided the self-critical tastes in her mouth, but she thought she could probably start crying less from now on.

"..I still can't wrap my head around it, you know?.."

"..."  _Kappa, right..?_

"..Why do Virgo and Scorpio get such a huge heart?"

 _"UGH..!"_ _For real!? THAT'S what was eating her!?_

Sarah's throat instantly dried up from sheer unwillingess, for as much it begrudged her, she knew an opportunity like that may never rise again;  _Norah was willing to listen._

_Deep breath._

"..Remember what I said about complementary elements back there? About water nourishing the earth and _—_ "

"..Mh.."

_"EEE~K!" Sarah's skin jumped._

_That was one moody growl._

Having the big heart of a lion Norah would be in a kind and helpful mood most of the times, but quite unfortunately lions were also known for their temper, fueled by their huge ego. Sarah knew the thought wasn't going to help,  _but she was an Aries_ , in other words a ram,  _so.._  Holding a moody growling lion on her lap was probably  _not_  the most prudent thing a ram could do. The lion did not like sugarcoated words, it could smell them coming from a mile away like they were the scent of blood on wounded prey.

"Alright then, I'll be frank with you. No more cheesy stuff."

_"..." She wasn't growling, but she was listening._

_'Why can he get along with Virgo, why can he not with Leo?'_ That's what Norah  _really_  wanted to know and that's what Sarah was going to explain.

"I'm sure you've become aware of it by now, but both Leo and Scorpio are impossibly hard-headed. Each of you wants to have it their own way, but that's why your eyes keep clashing, turning your relationship into that of rivals before you can even give it a chance."

"Heh.." Mild amusement walked on her lip, "Sounds like a story I know so far."

"You could say so, after all your Leo is not all that different from my Aries."

"So,  _first_  he makes a rival out of you,  _then_  he makes one out of me as well. He really doesn't like fires, does he?"

"Not bossy ones for sure. He doesn't like being on the receiving end, so yeah.. we're both someones he'd rather steer clear of."

_How cute._

"He's shy of girls that are not giving him the top."

"..." Sarah scowled,  _her face slashed by a bear_ , "...That's quite the cheeky way to put it, but.. yeah."

"I'll keep that in mind."  _She chortled_ , "So what about Virgo?"

Sarah stared with a deadpan face for a second.

_Yeah, let's move on, pardon already granted for using adult themes, sure._

_Inward sigh._

"..Well, for starters, Jackie's Virgo is nowhere _near_  bossy as Leo and Aries. She's actually quite critical of herself, worries a lot, those distress signals draw him and he stays around to support her. Virgo and Scorpio are actually two very different signs, but they share an amazing bond of communication and trust...  _'Opposites attract' probably fits here._ "

"Communication and trust, huh.." Norah lost her will after hearing those words, "...I think I've been sucking at communication and trust with Kappa lately..."

_Unlike them..._

Going by how Jackie was whispering in Jack's ear  _—_ _mouth covered with an eye secretively interested at the group of three_ _—_  she was likely confiding to him about Scott, the boy she liked. Normally that's not something you'd feel comfortable enough sharing with another boy, your own brother at that. She already trusted that he wasn't going to make fun of her, because Jack did only knock her chest, all chummy, laughing, even giving her a noogie,  _cheering for her._

_A beautiful brother-sister trust_

_"..."_

_...and something rather strange as well..._

_._

_._

_Because while Jack was busy cheering for his noogied sister,_

_he never saw how she didn't want to be cheered on._

_._

_._

_...Why did Jackie have such a distant look about her?..._

_Was the head-rub ticking her off?_

_._

_._

_Norah was sure Jack believed he was communicating with Jackie there,_

_but from the outside... it didn't look that way._

_._

_._

_Jackie didn't want to be cheered on,_

_but she also wasn't trying to let Jack know..._

_...that she didn't want to be cheered on._

_._

_._

_The only words speaking for her..._

_...was a cryptic silence..._

_._

_._

_"..."_

_[Stay behind the bars for too long and you'll start liking the bars.]_

_[Think of a bad joke twice and it won't be a joke at thrice.]_

_Scary old sayings that were not scary until you realized just how scary they were._

"...'Eeeey..."  _Borrowed her bumpkin accent_ , "Anybuddy 'ome?"

"—GUA~AH!"

"~Eeek!"

_What a heart attack! Sarah almost took off to Mars!_

_Her big-sis having jumpy wake-ups was a whole new one._

"A-Are you alright? You looked out of it for a second there."

Norah squeezed her throbbing temple, blinked, then rushed her eyes back to Jackie.

_She was still trapped in Jack's noogie, but she was actually having fun with it._

_"...Did I... Imagine that..?"_

"Forget about lazy or bored. I just noticed this but.. you probably didn't get a wink of sleep last night, did you?"

"..Bags under my eyes?"

"Yeah. You look kinda pale as well."

"Ugh, figures.."

"Something happened?"

Norah leaned on her chin and shrugged a bored shoulder.

"Got into a fight with mom last night."

"Again!?"

"Yup.."

"About Kappa?"

"Who else?"

_"..." ...'Whom' else.. Just internally correcting her._

"After listening to some real nasty stuff I stormed out of the cabin and started chopping wood till late midnight, just to vent some."

"Same old, same old.."

"Heh.. No kiddin.."

Sarah was skeptical for a while, peeking blue eyes wondering if it was right to ask.

"Hey, uh.. Back there.. You said you feel like you suck at communicating with Kappa lately."

"No point keeping it in under wraps. They're considerate enough not to ask questions, but I think everyone has caught whiff of it by now."

"Then.. Can I ask a question?"

_"..." Norah's brow furrowed with reticence._

_She'd better not be prying with that._

_She was only allowing it because Sarah was family._

"...When is Kappa's birthday?"

_"..." Her brow climbed._

_That kinda came out of nowhere._

"... January 2nd, why?"

 _ **"~!"** Sarah gasped like the sky was suddenly falling on their heads, _"...C-Capricorn..!"

"..."

"..."

 _"Ahhh SHIT..." Norah slapped her eye socket in regret,_ "I should've known you were up to no better with a question like that."

"It's no wonder Kappa won't listen to you though. Capricorns are like wild little goats bouncing around in a meadow. They won't grow easily on just anyone...  _LIONS, of all things_."

_Norah growled irritated, her squeezing grip blaming the fence._

"How 'bout you tell me something I don't know?"

"They're a great match for Scorpio."  _Sarah took guilty pleasure in that._

_"..." Perhaps she should be squeezing a little cousin's throat after all._

"...Oh!" Sarah's eyes jumped, "Everyone's coming back."

_"..." Time was running out then..._

"I better get to the apple tree and start counting." Sarah was carefully climbing down from the fence,  _didn't want her knee socks meeting a splinter._

"Hey.." Norah interrupted her, "Can I ask you a favor?"

"...?" That caught Sarah a bit wide-eyed. "Uh, sure."

_Norah was not thinking twice._

"You beat him in the jinx game right? You haven't punched him yet though, meaning he still owes you."

_Well, well.. Sarah's lips welcomed a tiny joyous grin._

_That explains why she kept feeling like something important had been escaping her._

_She had read somewhere that sleep deprivation could actually sharpen one's senses, making them more vigilant than if they were well-rested._

_Norah's usually forgetful memory was actually working miracles today._

"Want me to punch him somewhere in particular for you?"

_Doing dirty work for her big-sis wasn't even an issue._

_She'd be happy to punch that guy._

"..."

Together they watched Jack humorously giving Jackie a slap on the back, sending her tripping back to the others.

"..."

_Together they watched a different, unsmiling Jack, turn and direct his thoughts deep into the spreading forest._

"...W-What's up with him.. all of a sudden.." Sarah tried to look away, a bit daunted.

"Sarah—"  _Norah however, was not even batting an eyelash._

"—I can't have Jack finding Kappa before I do—"

The unaware girl gasped, connecting a few dots.

"...You don't mean...!"

_Norah had never once doubted, ever since he showed her those vowing eyes._

_How hide-and-seek.. h_ _ad long since become the last thing on his mind._

_._

_._

"..."

His fist clenched against the cold breeze, a lick coming all the way out of the forest to greet him.

Too bad... The forest would have to do better than that if it was going to stop him.

Better than a bucket full of freezing water, to be exact.

.

.

_She had never once doubted,_

_how Jack was set to go on a reckless hunt,_

_to make things right._

_._

_._


	18. Chapter 18

.

.

"...Fifteeeeen!... Twentyyyy!... Twenty-fiiiiive!..."

Sarah was loudly counting, always leaning against the apple tree to make sure she wasn't peeking.

Just like in every normal hide-and-seek game all of the kids had scattered in about every direction as soon as the game started.

_"...Bite me..."_

Everyone,  _except Jack..._

...who was forced to stay back and watch Sarah bob up and down on her tiptoes every time she was about to announce the next count.

She was so adorable bouncing with her pink knee-socks in those pricey-looking doll shoes he was hoping for an adorable overgrown apple  _to drop on her head._

_For guess what..._

Just as they were about to start the game the adorable little baker-girl suddenly stepped in and  _demanded_  he paid what he owed her. She was talking about her dirty win of course, when she stomped him on the foot and he cried out in pain, costing him the jinx game. A punch on the loser's arm,  _those were the conditions._  Despite Sarah cheating the win he was actually fine with it, considering it was a small price to pay if a little punch was all it'd take to make her shut up and never pester him again.

_But guess what again..._

_The crafty doll had different plans in mind..._

Instead of using her win-ticket to throw a punch at him, she used it to throw him  _a handicap_  for the round she was counting.

.

_"I said no sooner than fifty! Got it!?"_

_She called it her conditions._

_He called it her dirty leverage._

_._

For the bottom line Jack was not allowed to leave the seeker's side until the seeker was half-way done counting.

At first he was certain she was doing this so he wouldn't have enough time to run and hide,  _but surprisingly..._

"...Thirtyyy!... Thirty-fiiiiive...Fortyyy!..."

She had been counting  _painfully slow._

Truth be told there were no actual rules regarding how fast one was supposed to call those successive counts, but Jack was  _pretty sure_  she was supposed to call them a bit faster.

Not that he had any complaints about this particular slow pace, in fact...

_"..." Jack was already smirking._

_This was actually too good to be true._

If she was going to keep counting like that all the way to a hundred he'd have more than enough time to disappear into the forest before she could even finish her counting.

She thought she had given him a handicap, but in truth Sarah didn't even know how to make smart use of it.

_A slowpoke AND an amateur._

"...Fortyyy!...Forty-fiiiive!..."

_"Alright..!" Jack was all set._

_As soon as she hit fifty he was as good as a fart in the wind._

"...Fiftyyy...!"

He launched like a true slingshot.

 _"Kiss my ass goodbye!_ _"_

**"~HUNDRED!"**

_"—Eh"_

"Ready or not! Here I cooo~AHAAAA!"

The medusa's flashing gaze turned the leaping Jack into stone, gravity slammed him to the ground and smashed him to bits.

_"...You gotta be shitting me..."_

"Well well well! Aren'cha a pathetic slowpoke!"

Sarah gloated with an evil witch's laugh at the ground-hugging Jack.

 _"...aren...cha...?" First smashed into stone bits, then turned into icecubes_ _by a blizzard._

_That sounded like some kind of horrendously-refined version of 'aintcha'._

_Wait! What was he even thinking about at a moment like this!_

He flipped around.

"What the hell! You were supposed  _to count_  to a hundred!"

"I did  _count_  to a hundred. Too much  _wax_  in your ears or are you just  _deaf_?"

Sarah was unamused with his nonsense.

"Don't gimme that crap! You know you were supposed to go up FIVE every time, not  _FIFTY_!"

_Aww he was actually able to do math, how cute for an oik._

"I was counting  _really slow_  though, wouldn't you say?"

"That's  _your_  problem!" Jack thrust his leg and a small rock was kicked at her feet, "Go fast or slow all you want, but once you pick a pace you stick with it to the end! You don't just start cutting corners whenever you feel like it!"

_An annoyance in her eye. That's what he was._

"See, here's the thing.." Sarah removed one of her crossed arms, "I was counting slow on purpose, to make sure you'd have enough time to hide  _before_  I got to fifty."

_"...what..."_

_Jack didn't like what was being suggested there._

He got up on a knee, fixing a glare that was boring into her filthy thoughts.

"...You're saying you assumed I was gonna  _sneak off_ before fifty? That I'd go back on your  _dirty terms_  and make a run for it?"

"Huh, you're saying you weren't going to?"

"I'm saying  _I didn't_."

"~Oh my! How chivalrous of you!"

Sarah returned his gesture of good-will with an elegant curtsy, placing her right foot behind her left and slightly picking the sides of her skirt to express her humble gratitude towards the knight.

_Point taken._

The knight was already towering over the humble girl, grimly staring down at her curtsy.

"...You calling me a pussy, bitch?"

"Good Lord!..." Sarah could finally unbottle a pleased chuckle,  _vindicated like never before_ , "Now is that any way for a gentleman to address a lady? I wonder..."

_"..." Jack leered with disgust._

_He was no gentleman._

_But she was no lady either._

"...But, since you feel the need to know, allow me to say this..."

_"—!" In an instant she was leaning cockily against him, challenging his height._

"...You took the words right outta my goddam' mouth.. PUSSY!"

Dropping the act Sarah revealed her true colors, screwing her lips into a bloodthirsty sneer.

The gloves were off

_And a burning shadow was happily consuming Jack's expression,_

_a shadow that had been waiting for years to be availed._

_...a shadow that had only ever been afraid to touch..._

_...the winter in his eyes..._

_"..."_

_He knew better than anyone how he was no knight._

_He knew better than anyone how he was bad at controlling himself._

_He knew better than anyone... How he'd have no regrets beating the shit out of a face like that._

_"Do it you pussy! Try and come at me!"_

_...and Sarah knew his kind better than anyone else out there._

Many kids coming from a family with a dark background like his had been allowed into the gang in the past, and all of those kids had made a point why a family with a dark background was a cause to raise danger flags. Eventually those kids were going to lose control and do as their repressed urges wanted them to,  _proving_  why kids with an unstable mind should never come into contact with healthy minds.

No one ever brought it up out of sensitivity and discretion till now,  _but they all knew._ If those truly were THE Jack and Jackie, then their mother was none other than THE Rose.  _The Black Rose_ , a notorious name for the most notorious whore in the history of the village, a prostitute without a dime to her name who could only ever find solace in marrying a double-timing drunkard. Both of Jack and Jackie's parents were the lowliest of scum one could find.

_'Sleeping with her brother on the same bed?'_

_'Doting on her brother?'_

Please. That was just sugarcoating reality.

Sarah had already talked with Jackie, and talking with Jackie felt like trying to reach out to a terrorized animal. Back when Jessica was asking Jackie about her home Sarah could clearly smell  _fear_  in Jackie's shaking voice. Even though she'd not say it Jackie had seen too much shit going down in that house and that was obvious from her eyes that'd never leave from her feet. If it was in Sarah's hand she'd waste no time locking both of Jackie's parents in jail so Jackie would never again have to suffer whatever the hell was going on in that house.

_'Her brother caring about her?'_

Close, but no cigar.

That was like missing the entire forest for  _one_  tree, his  _one and only_  redeeming quality.

_Sarah had already seen how alarmingly easy it was for guys like him to go bad._

If the gang was lucky he was just going to pick a fight over a silly dispute eventually, possessed by a warped envy and spite once he realized what  _others_  had and what  _he_  didn't, lashing out with petty curses directed at family and friends, perhaps even spouting threats, stepping closer and closer to the point of no return...  _till Norah stepped in and punched his eye black for real._

Her big-sis was like the gang's immune system, but like every immune system _s_ he could always make a mistake and allow an intruder inside the body. Norah didn't want newcomers feeling unwelcome and for that reason she'd rather size them up through silent observation...  _but that alone was not enough..._ If an intruder earned Norah's trust and managed to slip inside, it would be Sarah's duty to correct what was wrong. Sarah was not kind and unbiased like Norah, she wasn't just gonna sit and watch the volcano plumes fill the sky over their carefree heads. She was going to use more  _intrusive_  means to make an active volcano show its intentions.

_...Still, what a fiasco that was back there..._

_...Norah turning a blind eye to an obvious time-bomb..._

_'Didn't punch him because she was crushing on him?'_

That was a load of crap and Norah had to know that she was only trying to fool her own kind heart, mistaking what was blatant  _empathy_  with actual feelings. She had found a boy who was following around his sister like a guardian spirit, which was admittedly  _very rare_  nowadays, but that was about the only thing they had in common. Sarah could only find one logical explanation for Norah suddenly making a move on Jack, and that was to try and douse  _what was burning inside of him._

Sarah couldn't overlook the fact that Jack also had seen the things Jackie had, but unlike Jackie, who had let fear become her natural instinct to survive, her brother's natural instinct was very different. The things he had seen at home had turned him into  _an unfathomable sea of rage_ , and that was what made him  _a hazard to the group._

...Sarah didn't hate Jack.

Even if she acted like she did, she didn't actually hate him. He was a victim of domestic violence, just like his sister. She  _had to_  keep acting like she hated him, because he was _dangerous._ She  _had to_ make him cross the line, because she  _had to_  get him kicked out. She was trying to  _save_  his hide, by  _posing_  as someone he'd hate. It'd be better for everyone if he picked a fight  _now_ , than at a time his rage would go off like a bomb and get someone  _really_  hurt.

Norah had only asked Sarah to buy her time, but Sarah's gut was telling her to handle this matter herself.

 _She makes him snap, he retaliates, he gets expelled._  Simple as that.

_Best case scenario he tries to lay a hand on her, she kicks him in the nuts and makes a run. Tested, foolproof tactic._

_Worst case scenario he grits his teeth like Andrew, tucks the tail under and walks away, never falling for the bait._

Sarah had to give it to Andrew though, three years and he still hadn't given in to the temptation, that's what they called nerves of steel. Perhaps her hunch had been wrong about him, perhaps he really was just a lonely kid that wanted to make friends like everyone else. Sarah was touched by Norah's passionate speech and in turn she reassured her she was also going to try to do her best with Andrew, so that had to mean Andrew had earned her respect somewhere down that three-year journey, right?

_Norah better not be misunderstanding though._

_Sarah only meant she was going to cut Andrew some slack, nothing else._

_No. In fact ANYTHING else would be just GROSS to even think of._

 

...What a tragic irony it was though... It had taken Andrew three whole years to earn her respect, yet it had taken only a moment for  _him_  to earn it. Watching with stilled eyes, a kid from a filthy house, smiling to his worried sister on their way back from the doctor. It was sad that Jack was not only someone to respect...

_But someone to look up to as well._

"You don't need to rub it in my face, I get it.."

_"Oh fudge!"_

_Sarah blinked out of her thoughts in a fluster._

_Her picture of him was still a bit numb, she wasn't gonna defend in time!_

"I didn't come here expecting to find a place for me.."

"...?"

_Wait.. He was looking far away?_

_Longing... for something?_

"All I wanted was to find a place for Jackie.."

 _She watched him walk away and wander into the knee-high grass, not_ _knowing why._

_Her mouth was supposed to be flying mockeries at his cowardly retreat..._

_...yet her parted lips could only listen._

"Jackie's not like me.. She can't keep it together in front of our old man.."

_"Their old man... Bobby-Joe...?" Sarah frowned with suspicion._

_It was their father Jackie was afraid of?_

"But you know.. I think Jackie's finally got something going for her.. Here, with you guys."

A parting breeze resonated with his words, and Jack turned over his shoulder.

_...The wind was uplifting, but her heart was sinking._

_It was a genuine, glad smile.. the kind of smile you didn't see anymore._

_The kind of smile telling of relief and happiness..._

_...for someone else._

"I know she won't be happy if I cause trouble for her.."

"Where do you think you're going!"

 _"...!?" When the hell did she appear in front of him a_ _ll spread-limbed like that?_

"I haven't turned you in at the apple tree yet! Y-You're still in the game!"

_"..." Surprised at first, then sighed a smile._

_That kind of girl, huh?_

_Well, it was good to know she wasn't the spoiled brat she wanted others to think of her as._

"Home."

_He was patting her head..._

_...and Sarah had never let a boy pat her head._

_At this very moment she was letting a boy do it as if he was someone very dear to her._

_What was happening..._ _Why would her heart..._

_...not stop sinking?_

Jack's golden eyes were rising determined towards the forest again.

"...After I find Kappa.. and tell him I'm sorry."

_"—!" Sarah's stomach leapt in her mouth remembering Norah's request._

"Well, I better get goin _—"_

"NO YOU DON'T!"

_Screw it! He was patting her head so he was laying a hand on her! Right!?_

**_*BASH*_ **

"...—K..KACK—!..."

The sharp crack in Jack's crotch penetrated all the way up to his ears.

With a mute scream he collapsed on his knees, strength gone like that...

...and an unimaginable pain shooting through every fiber between his legs.

A fully spread eye rushing with blood vessels rigidly rolled down.

_Her foot was in his crotch._

_...She punted him in the nuts!?..._

_SHE WAS NUTS!_

_...Reaching out to someone you looked up to, was really hard..._

_...But reaching out to someone who was looking up to you instead, solved all altitude issues._

"Please.. don't tell.. big-sis...!" Sarah muttered, her small shoulders shrugging from the inconsolable sniffing.

Jack grinned through the twitching.

"She punches guys in the eye, you kick guys in the nuts, is that how it wor ** _—!?_** "

_She threw herself at him, both disappearing inside the grass blades._

"THAT'S 2 OUT OF 2 BUDDY!"

The shout-out resounded to the highest mountain peaks.

"That was Scott." Jack smilingly mentioned, reeling his eye to the direction.

"Yeah, he's probably hiding in the corn." Sarah giggled, pecking his cheek one more time.

_One would never know what life had in store._

_Like the day one believed with certainty to have met their arch-rival..._

_...and that arch-rival would turn out to be their first love..._

.

_._


	19. Chapter 19

_._

_._

_Listening to the grass blades shyly soughing around him_

_Feeling the brightness of a clear blue sky pouring serene warmth upon his sealed eyes_

_...He wished it would last forever, this peace of mind, born within gently laced hands..._

 

.

.

Lying shoulder to shoulder in the grass Jack and Sarah were just peeking at each other, not as rivals anymore, but simply as a girl and a boy who had just discovered a different side to one another.

_A voiceless 'Who would've known..?' was what had shaped their tiny smiles._

_After all, it was true that one couldn't judge a book by its cover._

It was for a fact that his guts had been driving her mad ever since she crossed eyes with him, unlike her big-sis gutsy fellows had never been  _her_  thing,  _because really_... It was all about trying to look cool by being cocky and rude. People like that were the epitome of immaturity in her book, doomed to never get far in life sporting that attitude. But apparently... there was more to guts than what the eye could see.

In Jack Sarah had discovered someone who was gutsy enough to quell his selfish anger,  _making himself hurt_ , if it was for the sake of someone he treasured dearly. Being selfish was an easy-peasy game anyone could play well these days, but being  _selfless... was an entirely different story_. Moreover, for a fuming volcano like Jack, pulling something like that did not only take guts, but immense  _presence of mind_  as well. When someone you bluntly provoked was capable of maintaining control over their instinctive aggression, one couldn't help but suspect that that person's violent nature was but one side of the coin, a side he had probably never asked for...

_She saw how his plain red T-shirt was still rippled from the backward fall, for a while her eyes had been sitting on the slightly showing waist._

_...Those bruises weren't from hide and seek..._

"...It's nothing to worry about."

He tucked his tee into the patched shorts upon an embarrassed notice of her noticing.

_Sarah narrowed her eyes._

"..My old man binges on it sometimes, that's all."

Sugarcoating was  _her_  specialty at the bakery, she wasn't buying his  _half-baked_  biscuits.

"...I-I mean, it doesn't.. really...?" Jack was caught numb for words when her pigtails were suddenly threatening to slap his face.

Sarah was just too unconvinced to let her sulk slide.

"You're not going back to that house."

_Wow... Two minutes flirting in the grass and she was already acting like a wife._

Jack was so embarrassed his arm came up on its own to shield his eyes.

"Man... That's why I wasn't too wild about coming here..."

"Cut that crap!"

" _—!" She removed his arm by force._

"So  _that's_  what's going on!? The reason we've never seen you two is because you're afraid of people seeing your _—..._ "

_Two begging palms hushed her loud voice._

Sarah's brows were laying down flat from the annoying zip.

_Another thing Jack had in common with Norah, putting emergency full-stops on the truths coming out of her mouth._

"...Sorry but.. Can we not talk about it? I wanna leave that stuff home if I can."

"~ _!" Gasped from the bolt from the blue._

Are you serious!? That was  _literally_  one of Norah's lines!

"...your old man..." Sarah leered, still not completely convinced.

While Jack was turning away visibly reluctant.

 _Alright, he didn't feel like talking about his pops, and honestly, s_ _he could well see why._

_Then, how about a roundabout way..._

"... _Just,_ your old man.. Not your  _mom_  too?"

Sarah's distrustful brow climbed noticing how a heavyhearted smile tackled Jack's lips.

"Are you kidding me? She's a real hero, that woman.."

"...!?" Sarah blinked, again and again.

_That was a choice of words she didn't see coming._

_The Black Rose... A real hero...?_

Now Sarah was just splitting her head. On one side were all those despicable rumors, one the other side a lone testimony Sarah had never heard of.

Delicate fingers crept on his lean shoulders as the confused Sarah sank closer to him.

"...S-So your mom.. is a  _good_  mom.. to you and Jackie?..."

...

_...There was no need for an answer._

_...Because a picture..._

_...was worth a thousand words..._

_..._

Jack was smiling to himself like an embarrassed child, dearly treasuring memories of the woman he called a mom.

 _What sort of warm memories did it take to make someone as hurt as Jack show such happiness?_ _Sarah couldn't even begin to fathom._

"..I always try to tell her I'm just getting what I'm asking for, so she doesn't have to cry every time about it."

Jack was laughing it off, _but Sarah's widening eyes did not._

_She probably didn't catch that bit right._

"I'm not regretting getting on my old man's nerves, that's just how it _—_ "

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SAYING!?"

Jack flinched when Sarah's tame ear suddenly snapped.

 _Ohohoho oh no_ _... He wasn't putting a zip on her mouth this time._

"...You're telling me you like getting  _hurt_  or something!?"

There was a good pause of silence till his surprise settled, but then...

"...Why are you laughing, this is serious."

_This was a very familiar deja vu with Norah's face all over it._

"Course I don't like getting the crap beat outta me, it ain't even funny you know?"

"Then why?"

She wasn't letting his shoulders off the hook of her sharp nails till he explained to her  _why in the name of God he was actually TRYING to get those bruises!_

_"..." Jack's smile could only look up to this girl._

_If Bobby-Joe was only half as kind as Sarah, even pushy as she was, he would be someone he and Jackie could proudly look up to as a father._

"...One bruise on me, is one bruise that doesn't go on my mom, pretty much."

_"...What..." Her chest missed a beat, the blood freezing in her veins "...What did he just...?"_

"I mean, you've probably seen my old man slouching around the village, you know he's a beanpole right? He's tall and all, but he's only got stamina for one round, that's why I _—..._ "

_The words were fading, like she was sinking to the bottom of an ocean._

_Sarah had been haunted by what she was hearing._

_Those were not words that were supposed to be spoken by a boy her age._

_Worse, with a confident air of routine._

"..That's the plan, see? Cuz If he blows all his steam on me he ain't gonna have any left for my m _—_... _"_

_Jack's enthusiasm was quelled by a very tight, worried hug._

_"..." She was worried to death... and scared as well..._

_While Jack had learnt to manage his anger..._

_He could not recognize that his enthusiasm... was just his anger... watching and waiting behind a mask._

_...She didn't want to let him go..._

_...Because she was wrong..._

_...Because the only one Jack's rage was going to hurt, was his own self..._

_...He had been giving so much for Jackie and his mom..._

_...Yet he would not hesitate hugging her back..._

_...Comforting her..._

_...Giving even more..._

_...Of what little he had kept for his own self..._

_...He may be there, yet his mind was gazing elsewhere..._

_...Like a ghost, feeling ever so ephemeral..._

_...Destined, to one day disappear.._

_...Like a ghost..._

_..._

"..Jack.."

_It was almost funny how easy it was, uttering his once forbidden name._

"..Do you wanna know why I don't like that show you're watching..?"

He blinked out of it, only to turn and find solemn blue eyes waiting for him.

"..Natsume is the hero of the show, right?"

"M-mm.." He nodded,  _a bit apprehensively._

_A cute worried face, worthily earning her adoring smile._

"They call characters like Natsume heroes, but... they never say it.."

"...Say...w..what..?"

With a riddle hanging in the air, idle seconds passed as Jack and Sarah were just peering at each other from a nose-to-nose distance.

_She knew how the answer was right there, yet someplace Jack could never see..._

_...For it would always be there, in every hero's eyes._

"..How lonely.. a hero really is.."

_Slightly parting lips had resonated with her words._

"..and 'Natsume's book of friends' is the only show I know of that  _kills me_  with the hero's loneliness..because you know it's  _hurting_  him."

_There was a knot in his throat, not going down._

"..In the case of Natsume, he only wishes to help the spirits around him, he knows they are stuck because of his grandmother's book of names and wants to free them.. am I right?"

_His lips moved to talk but the words wouldn't come out._

_Embarrassed from failing at an easy task he just nodded in agreement._

"Natsume is a hero for releasing all those earth-bound spirits.. but what about Natsume's  _own_  feelings? He makes friends with all those spirits, only to watch them disappear one by one after their names are returned to them."

"Alright already! I get it!"

_Jack hissed._

_He never liked the farewell part in the episodes._

"What do you want me to say anyway, huh? That it's not as depressing as you make it sound like? Well, points to  _you_  for being spot-on!"

_She cuffed his impatient wrist._

_Sarah wasn't done making her point yet._

"..To sum up, Natsume keeps diving into trouble to find and release all those spirits, and what's his reward?"

"You got it all wrong! Okay!? You don't get it at all!"

She narrowed her eyes, quite a bit interested on his take.

"How am I wrong, exactly?"

_He whipped his wrist free of her cuff._

_To sit up and curl into a ball._

_"..." There it was, a very familiar knee-bucket..._

"...It's not about  _Natsume_  feeling lonely... after having to see his spirit-friends go...!"

_Watching him talk like that, a distant memory, was beginning to take shape..._

"...It's about why Natsume _has to_ let go of his friends... Natsume, he..."

.

"...He already knows that he will have to see them go one day... because..."

_...A form, of another person, right before Sarah's eyes..._

"...Because all these spirits... They have to be free... to find their happiness..."

_Norah's ghostly projection, overlapping with Jack's._

_._

"See?"

Sarah slapped him hard on the back.

_...Even though that wasn't what she really wanted to do..._

"That's a thing only a hero would say!"

Jack wiped the wet bead off his eye,  _a bit hurt with the lack of sentiment here._

_She was just grinning.. so glad for him._

_._

_._

Sarah was selfish and spoiled through and through, and yet...

She knew well, when the time to step back, was right in front of her.

It was leaving her with a broken heart, but her first love was not meant to be...

_Because the hero of this story..._

_...Had yet to meet the heroine!_

.

_._

**Author's Note:**

> ~TBC. Reviews are welcome!


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